Gulf Finance House, the leading Middle Eastern Islamic investment bank announced today it had received US$300 million from its rights issue offering which closed on Thursday 29th October. The popularity of the capital raising alongside the continuing success of the banks broader capital raising initiatives means GFH will have raised a total of US$450 million. The additional liquidity will support the execution and implementation of the Bank's strategic plan to become a diversified and broadly based Islamic investment bank.
The rights issue is a key component in a three part capital management plan designed to raise between US$300mn and US$500mn. The plan includes a rights issue of up to US$300m, the placement of up to two US$100 million convertible murabaha facilities and the sale of non-core assets. In addition to the US$300m received in the rights issue in recent weeks GFH announced the planned placement of the first US$100 million dollar murabaha with Macquarie Group and the partial sale of Qinvest to Qatar Islamic Bank for approximately US$50 million.
GFH Group CEO Ahmed Fahour commented on today's announcement saying, "When we embarked on our capital raising initiatives, we knew success would be governed by the level of faith our shareholders and strategic partners had in both the refined business plan and the team responsible for its implementation."
"With over US$450 million of new capital that will be available shortly, alongside advanced discussions on the placement of the second US$100 million murabaha facility and further non-core asset sales, GFH has a clear mandate to pursue its goal of emerging as the world's leading Islamic investment bank."