Bahrain’s GFH Financial increases stake in Khaleeji Commercial Bank as Shuaa exits

Bahrain-based GFH Financial Group has increased its ownership of Shariah-compliant Khaleeji Commercial Bank after buying shares from UAE’S Shuaa Capital and one of its subsidiaries.

GFH’s ownership of the bank is  now 69.05%, up from 55.41%, after buying 121,726,795 shares from Shuaa and Goldilocks Fund for 8,764,329.240 Bahraini dinars ($23.25 million), it said in a regulatory filing on Monday (June 7).

GFH set up Khaleeji Commercial Bank in 2004. It is the only bank in GFH’s portfolio, that is dominated by real estate.

Khaleeji Commercial posted a higher profit of 2.11 million dinars for the three months through March 31 compared to 1.44 million dinars for the same period in 2020. It holds assets of 1.11 billion dinars, up from 1.02 billion dinars at the end of last year.

Shuaa said in a separate statement that it divested its stake in Khaleeji Commercial Bank as part of its strategy to exit its non-core assets to optimise growth.

The asset manager and investment banker last month sold its 20% stake in UAE’s Mirfa Power Plant Company for 217 million dirhams ($59.1 million) to Sojitz Corporation.

Shuaa reported a 10-year high first-quarter net profit of 25 million dirhams. Its current asset management portfolio includes leading MENA region music streaming platform Anghami.

© SalaamGateway.com 2021 All Rights Reserved