After reducing its stakes in companies listed in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Ajman Bank does not plan to participate in further public stocks.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX)-listed Dana Gas and Eshraq investments, as well as the Dubai-listed Takaful Emarat and Salama, were among the assets the bank said it has reduced by its plan to improve asset quality.
Ajman Bank now holds 5.49% of Takaful Emarat, down from 41.8% at the end of 2023.
It also had 9.79% of the shares in Eshraq Investments, an ADX-listed business, which has since dropped below 5%, according to ADX data. As a result, each firm has just one significant shareholder.
Its stake decreased from 29.6% to 22.53% in Salama, an Islamic insurer traded on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM).
“The bank remains open to interesting investment options, but it doesn’t have any imminent intentions to engage in public shares,” a bank representative told Zawya.
According to analysts at Century Financial, Takaful Emarat has lost business to competing insurers due to legacy losses in poor assets and significant channel partners. Drone strikes on Dana Gas’s facilities recently have brought attention to the operational hazards associated with the company, which operates in the strategically vulnerable Kurdish region of Iraq.
Regarding Dana Gas, Bhavik Mehta, deputy head of research at Century for Financial Products, said, “The only major driver of a rally in the company’s stock prices would be the stabilisation and recovery of natural gas and Brent oil prices.”
“Over the last five years, the company’s stock values have correlated between 65% and 75% with the prices of Brent and natural gas (NG),” the official stated further.
According to Metha, Eshraq Investments, an ADX-listed company, saw a decrease in operational income in 2023 as a result of the sale of two sizable assets.
“Significant write-downs in the investment portfolio’s core Goldilocks funds exacerbated the losses already experienced. It is impossible to rule out more amortisation,” he stated.
The DFM-listed Ajman Bank reported a net loss for the entire year 2023, which it blamed on one-time adjustments made in the fourth quarter to enhance the quality of its assets.