Bahrain’s NBB Explores Merger With a $2.43 Billion Bank Rival

National Bank of Bahrain BSC has hired advisers as it weighs a potential merger with its local rival BBK BSC.

NBB, which has a market capitalization of 1.22 billion dinar ($3.25 billion), hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as its financial adviser and it’s still in the process of hiring a due diligence adviser, according to a statement. The lender named Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer as its legal adviser on the matter.

BBK, formerly known as Bank of Bahrain & Kuwait, hired Citigroup Inc. to advise it on the merger, the lender said in a separate statement. The Manama, Bahrain-based lender ...