DUBAI, Dec 24 (Reuters) - The board of Saudi British Bank, an affiliate of HSBC Holdings, hasrecommended boosting the bank's capital by 50 percent to 15billion riyals ($4 billion) through an issue of bonus shares, itsaid on Wednesday.
One bonus share would be issued for each two shares held,increasing the number of the bank's outstanding shares to 1.5billion from 1 billion.
The capital increase, designed to aid growth of the bank'sbusiness, would be funded with 2.5 billion riyals from itsretained earnings and 2.5 billion riyals from its statutoryreserve.
The eligibility date for the bonus shares will be decidedduring an extraordinary general assembly meeting in the firstquarter of 2015, the bank said. (Reporting by Tom Arnold; Editing by Andrew Torchia)