Bahrain’s GFH aims to boost capital by $300m

By REUTERS

DUBAI: Bahrain’s Gulf Finance House, the investment firm hit hard by a regional property crisis, said on Sunday it plans to increase its capital base by $300 million.

In a statement to the Bahrain bourse, the Islamic investment firm said it plans to raise the capital “imminently” but did not elaborate on how it plans the raise.

On Monday, GFH announced its plans to additional capital and asked the bourse to suspend trading in the stock until Aug. 23.

The company reported a second-quarter loss of $39.9 million, according to Reuters calculations. For the first half of the year, GFH said it incurred a $47.7 million loss.

Bahraini investment houses came under pressure after a regional property crash in 2008 effectively ended their business model of earning fees on investor money they raised for property and real estate projects.

GFH has managed to reduce its losses mainly through cost cuts. But it has struggled to sell down its assets to pay the debt it took during the boom years and last week struck a last-minute deal with lenders to extend a $100 million loan by up to three years.

 

 

Post your comment

required

required (email will never be displayed)

Please enter the following characters in the box provided (case sensitive). This helps us prevent automated programs from creating accounts and sending spam.

All comments are subject to approval

Terms and conditions