Global announces successful closing of First Jordan Investment Company's IPO

Global is the company's largest shareholder and co-lead manager for the offer, which started on 10 July 2007 and lasted for two weeks. The Initial public offering (IPO), was highly anticipated since last year.

60% percent of FJIC's 150 million Jordanian Dinars (JD) capital was already covered by a consortium of local and regional institutional and individual investors with Global making up the lion's share. The remaining 60 million shares were quickly covered by almost 68,000 investors who racked up around JD225 million (USD317 million).

"We are very pleased with the strong response that this IPO has witnessed despite the recent decline in market liquidity. This reflects the public's confidence in the company's future plans and its founding shareholders," stated Mr. Omar El-Quqa, Chairman of Founders Committee and Executive Vice President at Global.

"We have major plans for First Jordan Investment Co. with many projects in the pipeline starting with the establishment of the first business center in the city of Aqaba," El-Quqa added.

The project will be located at the main entry of Aqaba City with an area of approximately 150,000 m2. The project comes as an outcome of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed last September with the ADC.

In terms of capital, FJIC will be the largest investment company in Jordan. The company aims at capitalizing on the attractive investment climate and healthy economic growth that the country is currently experiencing.

El-Quqa affirmed that,

"Jordan is a distinct country in the Middle East with a unique economic structure persistent on growth despite numerous challenges. The country's lucrative investment environment and political stability promotes both local and regional investment as evident from the sizable increase in foreign direct investment over the years."

"Given the favorable macroeconomic factors and the company's large capital and experienced founders, First Jordan Investment Co. is poised to become the leading investment company in Jordan," he stated.