MANAMA, 10 December 2007 — The Bahrain Financial Harbor Holding Company (BFHHC) has generated around 80 percent return on investment in less than two years time, a senior official at the Gulf Finance House (GFH) said yesterday.
Peter Panayiotou, acting CEO of GFH, underlined the importance of GFH’s decision to sell 84 percent stake in Financial Center valued at over $425 million to a locally incorporated company Emar Bahrain.
Peter said GFH as an investment bank would continue to strive for good returns for its client base in future as well.
Earlier, GFH and BFHHC jointly announced the sale to Emar Bahrain of a majority stake in the two iconic Harbor Towers and the Harbor Mall in a deal valuing the shares at over $425 million.
According to the deal Emar Bahrain will buy the Financial Center Investment Company which owns a 68 percent interest in the Financial Center Development Company that owns the Financial Center, in addition to 18 percent already acquired by Emar, making the total stake to 84 percent.
Emar Bahrain is a 100 percent owned by local investors and is keen to enhance its activities in all potential areas of business in the Kingdom.
“We have number of investors in the Bahrain Financial Harbor project and it is a right time to exit from the financial towers,” Panayiotou said, adding that “Bahrain Financial Harbor is one of the first of GFH’s economic infrastructure projects and probably the most important in terms of helping us establish our credentials and expertise in this business.”
“The sale of the majority stake held by the Financial Center Investment Company signals the final exit of GFH’s private clients from the financing of the Harbor Towers and the Harbor Mall. For our clients this investment has been very profitable with our clients achieving a return of almost 80 percent since November 2005,” he added.
Dr. Omar Al-Mardi, managing director at BFHHC, said “Bahrain Financial Harbor is a project of great pride to the Bahraini nation. Keeping ownership and control of the Financial Center at the heart of the project is a strategic objective and the sale to Emar Bahrain achieves that. The financial services industry of Bahrain is a cornerstone of the Bahraini economy and BFH is a key part of the future of Bahrain as a leading international financial center”.
The first development phase of the Financial Center was formally opened by the Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa in a high-profile launch event earlier this year.