Bubiyan Bank will have paid-in capital of KD 100 million ($333 million), of which KD 76 million ($253 million) will be offered in the IPO. Of the remaining equity, 20 per cent will be held by Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) - the driving force behind the establishment of the bank - and the Public Institution for Social Security will take the remaining 4 per cent.

The shares to be offered in the IPO will be priced at par, with a KD 0.003 ($0.01) handling fee. The minimum subscription to the offering will be 1,000 shares and no single shareholder will be issued more than 5 per cent of the bank's total equity. The offering will remain open for a month.

'We are expecting considerable oversubscription,' says Dherar al-Rabah, senior investment manager at KIA, and the chairman of Bubiyan Bank's establishment committee. 'The issue will appeal to Islamic and conventional investors alike. It stands as a rare opportunity to enter the bank sector without paying a heavy premium. There is high liquidity in the Kuwaiti market at present and Bubiyan Bank is itself a very strong proposition.'

The bank's infrastructure is already under construction. The bank is expected to open its doors for trading before the end of the year. It will initially focus on the Islamic retail market - long the sole local preserve of Kuwait Finance House- but it will also seek to develop corporate and investment banking capabilities.

It is expected that the bank's inaugural shareholders' meeting will be staged in June and it will oversee the election of the first board. The government, through KIA, will take two of the nine board seats.