Semaan Bassil, Vice-Chairman and General Manager of Byblos Bank, said, 'Byblos established this sponsored facility in order to increase liquidity through the listing of the Global Depositary Shares and to promote further transparency for investors.'

Tracey Pierce, Head of Equity Primary Markets, London Stock Exchange Group, said:

'I am delighted to welcome Byblos Bank to our Main Market. This GDR admission demonstrates that despite very difficult market conditions our markets remain open and attractive to international issuers who want to trade alongside their global peers. London is now firmly established as the leading international listing venue for emerging market banks, with Byblos becoming the sixth from the MENA region alone to list here.'

'We continue to develop our services in the Middle East, and expect to see more companies from the region join Byblos on the London Stock Exchange when market conditions improve,' Pierce added.

Byblos Bank is one of Lebanon's leading banks, and has operations in Lebanon, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Armenia, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Iraq, Sudan and Nigeria.

During the past few years London has become the international market of choice for ambitious Middle Eastern companies looking to expand their businesses globally. With the arrival of Byblos, there are now 37 Middle Eastern companies on the London Stock Exchange's markets.