RIYADH/DUBAI: National Commercial Bank (NCB), Saudi Arabia's biggest lender, said today it had signed an initial agreement with smaller lender Samba Financial Group to create a combined entity with almost US$214 billion (RM915 billion) in assets.

NCB's offer would value each Samba share at 27.42 to 29.32 riyals (RM31.25 to RM33.42), giving it a maximum market value of US$15.63 billion, 27.5% above its market value of nearly US$12.3 billion based on Wednesday's closing price.