Global lead manager to KD 15 million bond issue for International Finance Company KSCC

Mr. Khalifa Yousef Al Roomi - IFC's Chairman & Managing Director, Mr. Nedal Khaled Al Masood - General Manager at IFC, and from Global Mrs. Maha Khaled Al Ghunaim - Vice Chairman & Managing Director, and Mr. Omar M. El-Quqa - Executive Vice President attended the signing ceremony which took place at IFC headquarters.

Mr. Al-Roomi said after the signing "the decision to issue bonds came in light of the company's desire to retain cash liquidity to achieve its strategic goals in expanding its main activities and service sector, and develop investment areas to finance and real estate sectors locally and globally."

"This issue will provide IFC with alternative finance sources for existing and upcoming projects and expansion activities in operations, and it proves the company's ability to provide liquidity from various sources," he added.

Talking about the reasons why IFC chose Global to lead its bond issue, Mr. Al-Roomi said that it is due to "Global's extensive expertise in the investment sector and the capital market and the success it had in previous bond issues,." He expressed his trust in Global's abilities and it's financial competence.

The bond is composed of two tranches, first tranche being KD5 million coupon at 7.375% fixed annual interest rate, and the second tranche being KD10 million, coupon at 1.75% variable rate. The bond will be due in May of 2010.

Mrs. Al-Ghunaim thanked IFC for choosing Global as the lead manager for its bond issue. "This comes at a time when Global is active in supporting the bond market since we believe that it is a pillar of capital market," she explained.

She pointed that Kuwait's market is witnessing an upsurge in the number of bond issues, reaching 37 issues, 29 issues denominated in Kuwaiti Dinars of total KD560 million, in addition to 8 US Dollars issues of over USD1 billion.

"This indicates that many companies are relying on this type of lending tool in light of encouraging financial conditions in the market and low interest rates in the country. On the other side, we see an influx of investors towards the Bonds market to protect their investment portfolios from market fluctuations, and to guarantee high returns seldom found in other financial market tools," Mrs. Al-Ghunaim stated.

Established 25 years ago, IFC is one of the leading finance and investment companies in Kuwait. It has a long history of providing successful financial services in cooperation with other financial companies to a multitude of economic sectors.