Investors from Qatar, Egypt and Jordan plan to make an offer for a stake in Bahrain-based Ahli United Bank at $2.5 per share or more, a Kuwaiti newspaper said.

"Major" shareholders in Bahrain's biggest bank could expect at least three offers, al-Qabas reported, without saying how it obtained the information. One of the investors was a large Egyptian bank, it added.

Kuwait's Tamdeen Investment Co., the second-largest shareholder in Ahli United, said on Wednesday it had rejected an offer from International Bank of Qatar to buy into the Bahraini lender.

International Bank had offered $2.25 per share in a cash and stock deal.

Tamdeen, which holds 13 percent of Ahli United, said last month that it and other investors it represented had agreed in principle to accept International Bank's bid for a 55 percent stake in Ahli United.

The $6.1 billion deal would have been the biggest ever cross-border purchase of a Gulf Arab company. - Reuters