KUWAIT: Shareholders of Kuwait’s Global Investment House approved a 76-percent capital hike worth around $346 million on Wednesday.
This will raise the capital of Global, one of the Gulf Arab state’s biggest investment firms, to 231.24 million dinars ($800 million) through issuing shares at a nominal value of 100 fils per share. There are 1,000 fils to the dinar.
In December, the firm reached a deal with creditors to reschedule $1.7 billion in debt, and entered into new three-year facilities with each of its 53 lending banks.
Maha Al-Ghunaim, Global’s managing director, told reporters after the meeting the capital hike was "important in enhancing the company’s financial position and as a safeguard for what could happen in the future if the prices of assets don’t improve in the short-term."
Ghunaim said her outlook for Global was optimistic in light of the decline in company losses.
"Overall, we are very pleased with the way our revenue from recurring fees is progressing," she said adding that Global’s advising of India’s Bharti Airtel on the $9 billion deal it struck to buy most of the African assets of Kuwait’s Zain boosted confidence in the company.
Global made the first payment of its rescheduled debts, around 29 million dollars, on April 21, Ghunaim said.
The company reported a full-year net loss of 148.8 millon dinars in 2009, compared with a net loss of 257.6 million dinars for the year-ago period.
