CORRECTION: Corrections made on acquisition parties.

First Gulf Bank, which is based in Abu Dhabi, announced the finalization of its acquisition of Dubai First. Dubai First is the credit card business unit of Dubai Group.

The said acquisition was part of the expansion strategy of the credit card unit in 'developing existing businesses and offering more value to an expanding UAE customer base.'

FGB is the second biggest bank in the United Arab Emirates in terms of market capitalization. It had said that the acquisition was worth USD164 million. The said sale is part of the overall strategy by Dubai Group to pare its debt pile. The amount of debt was built up during the boom years of the mid-2000s.

Dubai Group is one of the units of Dubai Holding. Dubai Holding is the investment unit for UAE ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. 

According to First Gulf Bank CEO Andre Sayegh, "Dubai First offers great synergy with the FGB business. It supports our customer centric strategy and will create an integrated platform for developing exciting, new products in the future."