Global issues five years KD50m bond

The bond was rated A- by Capital Intelligence Rating Agency and BBB by Fitch Ratings.

Mrs. Maha Al-Ghunaim, Chairperson and Managing Director of Global, said:

"The primary objective of the issue is for general corporate purposes and lengthens the maturity of the liabilities."

The issue is divided into four tranches, two Kuwaiti Dinar dominated and two US Dollars dominated, with interest paid on a semi-annual basis. The first tranche in Kuwaiti Dinar with a fixed coupon of 7% and the second tranche also in Kuwaiti Dinar carrying a floating rate of 1.5% above 6 months KIBOR. The third and forth tranches are USD dominated, one is carries a fixed rate of 5% and the other carries a floating rate of 1.5% above 6 months Libor.

She explained that the good rating of the bond, A- by Capital Intelligence and BBB by Fitch, reflects the inherent financial strength of Global.

It is worth mentioning that this is the third bond issued by Global. The first issue was in 2004 for KD20m and the second was in 2007 for KD45m, both of which were rated BBB+ by Capital Intelligence. The new bond rating of A- by Capital Intelligence also proves the enhancement of the company's financial position.

Mrs. Al-Ghunaim added, "In May 2008, Global raised $1.15bn by issuing Global Depository Receipts and listed them on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The Company's shareholders' equity increased from KD323.1m ($1.2bn) at 31 December 2007 to KD701.6m ($2.6bn) at the end of September 2008 which strengthened our capital base and brought down our leverage from 2.1 times at the end of 2007 to 1.0 times at the end of September 2008."

The Kuwaiti market has witnessed a halt in the number of bond issuers for the past years due to the increase in the interest rates and the loan facilities offered by banks especially short term borrowings. In addition to that, investors were attracted by the good performance of the real estate sector and the equity markets.

Today with the decline of interest rates, bonds and mainly the high rated ones have become more attractive to investors.

She stressed, "We believe in developing the capital market by supporting the issuance of dept instruments. These debt instruments will improve and strengthen the liability structure of the companies and create benchmark yield curve and provide an alternative asset class to the investors."