Gulf Finance House GDR taken up by European and North American institutional investors

GFH GDRs started trading strongly and 451,082 GDRs shares with a total value of US$ 11.2 million at a unit price of US$25.00 were traded on the first day. Each GDR represents 10 ordinary shares. The price achieved represents a premium of 7.7% above the previous closing price in Kuwait and a premium of 23% over the price when research was published and distributed internationally.

Last week GFH offered 100 million shares to institutional investors in Europe and the USA in the form of 10 million GDRs in a secondary issue. The issue was oversubscribed. The shares were supplied by existing shareholders in a strategic move designed to build the international profile of the bank and to give it greater access to international capital markets. GFH has become the first Islamic investment bank from the GCC to be listed on the London Stock Exchange, having already being cross-listed on three regional bourses - Kuwait Stock Exchange, Bahrain Stock Exchange and the Dubai Financial Market.

Earlier yesterday, GFH shares were officially listed at a welcome ceremony at the London Stock Exchange. The ceremony was presided over by Mr. Ibukun Adebayo, Senior Representative at the LSE and attended by Mr. Esam Janahi, Chief Executive Officer and Board Member, Mr. Edwin Ball, Chief Operating Officer, and other senior GFH Representatives.

Commenting on the GFH listing, Dr. Fuad Al-Omar, Chairman of GFH, said today:

"GFH is proud to be listed on the London Stock Exchange. This is a very important milestone for GFH and one that clearly signals solid confidence in the future of GFH. A very prestigious list of institutional investors from Europe and North America bought 100 million existing ordinary shares in a secondary GDR issue that was oversubscribed. The success of this sale clearly shows that sophisticated investors believe that our business will continue to grow and create value for them. On behalf of the board, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Bank's management and both UBS and Merrill Lynch, our advisers and bookrunners, for their hard work and to welcome our new shareholders."

Mr. Esam Janahi, CEO and Board Member of GFH, continued:

"Through the success of GFH's London listing we have received strong validation from the international markets of our management team and our business model. Our core business is development infrastructure designed to accelerate economic development and it was good to learn that we have a leading position in this field not just in the Gulf but internationally too.

Our GDR issue is the only issue that has come from the Middle East this year so far and we are very proud that there was a healthy spread of demand, with 61% coming from the UK and Europe and 39% from the US."

Mr. Peter Panayiotou, Deputy CEO of GFH, stated:

"We are extremely pleased and delighted with the strong response that this GDR has received from both mutual long-only funds as well as hedge funds. The issue was oversubscribed despite market conditions that had forced a number of other international issuers to withdraw their issues. The roadshow lasted two weeks and has been very useful in terms of establishing new relationships with institutions who have shown interest in working with us across our lines of business. The whole exercise has been very beneficial and worthwhile."