KFH's $11.6bn purchase of Ahli United created the Gulf's second-largest Islamic bank

Kuwait Finance House, the country's largest bank, first courted Bahrain's Ahli United Bank in 2019. In July 2022 the Central Bank of Kuwait approved an acquisition of 100% of Ahli United valued at $11.6bn, with KFH offering one of its shares for every 2.695 Ahli United shares at a 13% premium.

The rationale was survival through scale. KFH's chairman told shareholders that competition had reached a point where there was no place for small banks and no feasibility in Ahli United continuing as an independent lender in the same local market. KFH's mandatory offer lifted its direct and indirect ownership of AUB-Kuwait to 95.065%, and on 29 November 2023 the extraordinary general assembly ratified the merger by amalgamation.

Integration was staged: AUB Bahrain completed conversion to a fully sharia-compliant bank in December 2023, AUB-Kuwait merged in February 2024, and AUB Egypt was rebranded KFH Egypt. The enlarged group operated in 12 countries and became the world's second-largest Islamic bank, with a market capitalisation near KWD13bn.

The financials validated the decision: KFH reported a record net profit of KD461.5m ($1.5bn) for the first nine months of 2023, up 124.3% year on year, with the chairman citing the acquisition and cost-of-funds rationalization among the drivers.

Combined roughly $115bn in assets, record net profit of KD461.5m in 9M 2023 (+124.3%), and a market cap near KWD13bn as the world's second-largest Islamic bank.

The mandatory offer plus amalgamation folded AUB-Kuwait into one balance sheet, capturing synergies in costs and funding.

Converting AUB's Bahrain, Egypt and Kuwait operations to sharia-compliant banking widened KFH's franchise across 12 countries.

Scale lifted KFH to record profits and the biggest market capitalisation on Boursa Kuwait.

When a bank is too small to compete alone, buying scale and merging operations beats slow organic growth: synergies in costs and funding show up in profitability within quarters.

KFH Egypt grew net profit 65% to EGP5.5bn in 2024 on assets of EGP144bn. The deal joined a wave of Gulf bank mergers, including NCB-Samba and DIB-Noor, that made scale the standard answer to margin compression.