Global wins Euromoney's 'Best Investment Bank in Kuwait' 2007 Award

In an event held on 13th June 2007 at the Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi, UAE, and attended by a number of businessmen, Mr. Simon Brady, CEO, Euromoney presented the award to Mr. Omar El-Quqa, Executive Vice President at Global, who expressed his appreciation for the distinguished award.

"We are delighted to have won the Euromoney for the third consecutive year, which affirms our persistence to be a major player in the local, as well as the regional, economies," El-Quqa said.

He added that the award is for all Global staff and clients who believe in the company, and the hard work done in bringing world-class and rewarding investment products.

In 2004, Euromoney awarded Global the "Best Equity House in Kuwait". Later, the company received "Real Estate Investment" award in December 2005 from the magazine.

Global's EVP affirmed that the latest award bares the fruit of the company's dedication to be a leading investment bank within the local and regional economies.

El-Quqa followed by saying, "One of our major goals since inception is to raise the benchmarks of the financial and investment sectors in the region, therefore, we have always believed in being creative and to work with a spirit of an entrepreneur on all corporate levels."

He thanked the international financial magazine for this distinction, and stressed its significance to Global's staff and clients for receiving the award for the third time.

In addition, he pointed that the award puts an added responsibility on the shoulders of both the management and employees, and is looked upon as a push to excel further more and maintain diligence in maintaining investors' satisfaction.

During the past year, Global was very active on various fronts. It had introduced several new funds during year among them are Asia Real Estate Fund, a Shari'a compliant fund, the Palestine Dedicated Fund, the first of its kind in the region. The company's funds have continued to record competitive returns as the Global Ten Large Cap. Fund. Subsequently, it was ranked best performing equity fund in the Kuwaiti market in 2006 by Lipper-Reuters.

In addition, Global Distressed Fund was ranked by EurekaHedge as the 2nd best fund in the world in terms of Sharpe Ratio, then as the 4th best hedge fund for January 2007 by Barclay Group, up from 7th place in March 2005. The Global Umbrella Fund - Europe was also ranked by EurekaHedge as the 3rd best performing hedge fund in Europe for the month of March and the 4th for the first quarter of 2007.

In 2006, the company was successful in privately placing around KD240 million (USD830 million) for five companies, and it was the Lead Manager for the United Towers Co. issue, in a transaction worth KD45 million (USD156 million). Global acted as Co-Lead Manager and/or Underwriter in several regional and international deals worth USD996 million. On the M&A front, the Investment Banking Group acted as advisor to Al-Soor Financing & Leasing Company in the full acquisition of Al Mulla International Financing & Investment Co.

Furthermore, the total size of Murbaha financing arrangements done by Global amounted to KD115 million in 2006 (USD385 million).

In conclusion, Mr. El-Quqa thanked Euromoney for the award and expressed his heartfelt pride in receiving the award for the third year. He again stressed on Global's commitment towards excellence to deliver financial and investments products and services that go beyond markets' expectations, with a strong commitment to leadership, ethical approach, creativity, and innovation, which led to great results in this past three years being merited and recognized globally by financial international markets.