Gulf Finance House (GFH), an Islamic investment bank, has signed an agreement with Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) relating to the sale of 10% of its 15% stake in Qinvest to QIB. Qinvest was conceived by GFH in partnership with QIB and launched in 2007 and GFH will retain a 5% share holding in the Bank. This sale will realize approximately $50m in liquidity which is in addition to the $150m in capital already raised so far from its rights issue and the planned $100m investment by Macquarie Group for the GFH convertible murabaha.
The move by GFH is part of an ongoing strategy recently unveiled to the bank’s shareholders in Bahrain and Kuwait to divest non-core assets, strengthen the balance sheet further and provide the liquidity necessary to engage in high value investment opportunities derived from the global economic downturn.
Ahmed Fahour, CEO of GFH Group, said: “While we are pleased to retain a stake in Qinvest to benefit from its continuing growth, GFH is looking to the future and the goal of emerging as the world’s leading Islamic investment bank. The capital realized from this transaction and the exciting progress made to date with our full capital management plan will strengthen the balance sheet and contribute to the execution of our diversified business plan.”
The sale to QIB coincides with and supports the launch of a GFH rights issue designed to raise between $200 – $300m of new capital which will conclude on Thursday 29th October 2009. Although GFH’s divestiture is a specific part of its capital management strategy, GFH management do not foresee the sale impacting its Q3 2009 financial results. Furthermore, the bank currently anticipates its Q3 earnings will be no worse than those reported for Q2.
