MANAMA, 22 October 2007 — Bahrain-based Gulf Finance House (GFH) has raised over $630 million from investors across the GCC as equity to fund the infrastructure development of Energy City India, the company said yesterday. The equity issue was underwritten by Kuwait Investment Company (KIC).
Esam Janahi, chairman of GFH, said: “The success of the exercise to raise equity for Energy City India underscores the strong appetite of our clients for opportunities in India as well as the success of our Energy City Qatar project. Global investors have been eyeing India for some time and are looking for opportunities to invest in India’s economic development, particularly after the reforms introduced a few years ago. There is no doubt that the Indian economy is dynamic — you only have to visit India regularly to see the country is changing. With foreign direct investment now allowed automatically in certain sectors of the economy, we see the next few years as an opportune time to invest in more projects that help build the economy of India.”
Peter Panayiotou, acting CEO of GFH, added: “The issue was oversubscribed by almost 60 percent. Our product offers a target total return of 75 percent over a three-year investment period.”
“We believe that there is still a lot of pent-up demand for opportunities to invest in India,’ he added.
