Solidarity announces major corporate restructuring

A successful private placement offering to selective investors allowed the company to increase its paid-up capital from $150m to $220m, with the authorised capital standing at $500m.

This has paved the way for the creation of two new entities, Solidarity Family Takaful Company and Solidarity General Takaful Company, both falling under the umbrella of a new Solidarity Group.

Solidarity Family Takaful and Solidarity General Takaful grew out of two existing business units within the former structure of Solidarity. The effort aims to strengthen Solidarity's position as a leader in providing insurance solutions globally and enable further strategic alliances, better performance accountability and higher efficiency, as well a more defined specialisation of business lines. The new Solidarity group structure will be effective 2nd March 2008.

"This restructuring, which turns Solidarity's two main business units into two distinct but inter-connected companies, will allow each to tailor-make their development plans to suit their individual needs. They will, however, maintain similar long-term strategic objectives, to ensure cohesivness and to benefit from the economies of scale which comes from being part of Solidarity Group,"

said Solidarity Group Chairman, Khalid Abdulla-Janahi

"We take great pride in announcing the appointment of Ashraf Bseisu as Solidarity Group Deputy CEO. Ashraf, since joining Solidarity in 2006, has demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities and dedication, as well as innovation within the Insurance and financial services field. We look forward to Solidarity Group's continuing growth within the industry, and wish Ashraf the best of luck in his new role," continued Janahi.

Solidarity Group will also remain an integral part of the Ithmaar banking group, one of the most dynamic financial services providers in the Middle East, he added.

Solidarity Group CEO, Sameer Al Wazzan said: "Solidarity was established with the vision of becoming a leading international Islamic-oriented financial services group generating superior returns to shareholders. Its mission is to provide a range of Sharia compliant protection, savings and investment products with quality customer service".

"Our current plans for further growth are focused on the provision of innovative and competitive financial solutions through geographical expansion and strategic partnerships. This restructuring will streamline our operations, allowing for better segregation of business lines and making it easier for us to achieve our corporate objectives with integrity and transparency," he said.

The restructuring was announced at a Press conference held on the sidelines of the 27th General Arab Insurance Federation at the Gulf Hotel. Also present at the event were Solidarity Group newly appointed Deputy CEO Ashraf Bseisu, Solidarity Family Takaful General Manager, Gopi Rao and Solidarity General Takaful General Manager, Gautam Datta.

The Solidarity Group also owns Takaful Islamic Insurance Company in Saudi Arabia, Solidarity Takafol S.A. in Luxemburg and other strategic shareholdings in Saudi, Oman, Jordan and Malaysia.

The main functions of Solidarity Group includes strategic and business planning, Group capital and asset management, group expansion including ventures & acquisitions and the overall provision of corporate services for its subsidiaries such as Finance, IT, Human Resources, Legal and Compliance, and Corporate Communications.

The Group's Board of Directors, Executive Committee, and Audit Committee will monitor the functions and performance of the new Solidarity group.

In addition to Solidarity Group, the Bahrain-based Ithmaar banking group consists of Ithmaar Bank, Shamil Bank, Faisal Private Bank (Switzerland), Faysal Bank Limited (Pakistan), First Leasing Bank and Ithmaar Development Company. Together, the group's services, including investment, private, retail, and commercial banking, private equity, mergers & acquisitions advice, takaful, leasing, and real estate development, form a 360 degrees value chain that embraces the entire spectrum of banking and financial services.