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Gulf Daily News Monday, 12th January 2015
Arcapita sells 50pc
stake in Lusail Golf
MANAMA: Arcapita, an
alternative investment management firm, yesterday
announced it has sold its 50
per cent stake in Lusail Golf
Development to Barwa Real
Estate Company.
Lusail Golf owns the development rights to a 3.66 million
sqm plot of land north of Doha,
Qatar.
The total value of the plot is
approximately $1.4 billion.
The plot owned by Lusail
Golf is located in Lusail City,
a master-planned development
covering an area of 21 sqkm.
Lusail City is sponsored
by Qatari Diar Real Estate
Investment Company.
Upon completion, the development is expected to include
residential and commercial
developments as well as districts A Al Raee the Arcapita team
focussed on education, media, developed the master plan and
energy and entertainment.
design concepts for one of the
“Arcapita has an established largest single plots in Lusail
track record of master-planning City.
and developing large“During the holdscale golf residential
ing period, the team
communities
havfocused on attracting
ing made successful
development partners
investments in leading
and optimising land
projects in Dubai and
utilisation.
Bahrain,” Arcapita
“We are pleased
chief executive Atif A
that our investment in
Abdulmalik said.
Qatar has resulted in
“Pursuing investa profitable outcome
ment opportunities n Mr Abdulmalik for our investors,” he
in real estate markets
added.
across the GCC region
In September 2013,
continues to be a key part of Bahrain-based Arcapita said
our global investment strate- it had formally emerged from
gy.”
chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedAccording to Arcapita’s ings, after nearly 18 months,
chief operating officer Hisham allowing for an ordered sale of
Bin Hindi opens Samsung
brand shop in Sultan Mall
n Shaikh Abdulla, centre, with Ahmed Bin Hindi, right, A Aziz Bin Hindi, left, and other officials
MANAMA: Bin Hindi Informatics yesterday
debuted a new “Samsung Experience Shop” at
the Sultan Mall in Zayed Town.
Southern Governor Shaikh Abdulla bin Rashid
Al Khalifa inaugurated the showroom in the presence of Korean Ambassador Joonha Yu, Samsung
Gulf Electronics president Young Soo Kim, A A
Bin Hindi Group vice-chairman and chief executive Ahmed Bin Hindi, Bin Hindi Group director
A Aziz Bin Hindi, other officials and staff.
This is the seventh showroom for Bin Hindi
Informatics in Bahrain after City Centre Bahrain,
GOSI Complex, Juffair, Hoora, shop-in-shop
showroom at Zain outlet in Seef Mall, and
Ashrafs in Hoora.
Bin Hindi Informatics also operates a Samsung
service centre on Exhibition Avenue opposite
Hoora police station and a service collection
point in Enaya Car Care in Wadi Al Sail, West
Riffa.
ITHMAAR INAUGURATES NEW ATM
MANAMA: Ithmaar Bank, a
Bahrain-based Islamic retail
bank, has inaugurated a new
drive-through
Automated
Teller Machine (ATM) at the
Isa Town fuel station.
This brings the total number
of ATMs in Ithmaar Bank’s
network to 46, including 17
at full-service branches across
Bahrain.
Bank general manager for
retail and private banking Abdul
Hakeem Al Mutawa said the
new offsite ATM was installed
in response to customer demand.
The ATM features sophisticated technology that allows
for both additional security features, as well as advanced services including real-time cash
deposits and card-less access to
cash through the “MobiCash”
solution, the bank said.
assets to pay off its creditors.
The company had to file for
bankruptcy protection in US
courts, after failing to reach
agreement with creditors about
the restructuring of a $1.1bn
loan.
Under the terms of the reorganisation, approved by US
courts, the company’s investment portfolio is being managed by New Arcapita (legally
referred to as AIM Group), led
by the existing management
team, with the objective of
maximising exit values across
the portfolio.
RA Holding, a new entity
owned by the creditors, was
established to ensure an orderly
disposal of assets, in a bid to
avoid a fire-sale liquidation.
21
GIB launches region’s
first online-only bank
MANAMA: Bahrain-based Gulf
International Bank (GIB) has
launched the Middle East’s first
online-only consumer banking
business in Saudi Arabia, seeking to diversify after almost
collapsing during the global
financial crisis and to tap into
a young, tech-savvy population.
Until now, GIB has been solely a wholesale bank – which provides services to big companies
and financial institutions.
It needed a bailout from the
Saudi government after suffering $757 million in losses in 2007
from investing in complex debt
instruments linked to the US
subprime housing crisis.
Its ability to fund itself from
wholesale money markets was
also compromised as banks
stopped lending to each other,
meaning it had to scale back its
operations.
Its assets roughly halved
between 2007 and 2010, and
remained nearly a third below
2007 levels at the end of 2013,
according to financial statements.
Called “Meem” – the letter
M in Arabic – the new retail
banking platform will offer
personal finance products and
credit cards in Saudi Arabia, the
region’s largest economy.
Around two-thirds of the population are under 30, and Saudi
Arabia is the biggest user of
YouTube per capita in the world
and among the top 10 nations
for Twitter use.
The new business will give
GIB – 97 per cent-owned by
the Saudi government – a more
stable funding base, GIB chief
executive Yahya Alyahya said at
the launch event in Al Khobar.
“It will be a mitigant for the
bank against any potential financial crisis in the future so we will
not face the problems that we
faced in 2008, which took us to
the point where the bank could
have defaulted,” he said.
“Dealing with retail is also
profitable in itself, so that is
going to enhance our profitability.”
GIB aims to have around a
3pc share of the Saudi consumer
banking market by 2020.
“Our strategy is to be a panGulf universal bank, so after
Saudi and when the proposition proves successful, we will
move it to other countries,” Mr
Alyahya said, adding it could
launch into another unspecified
Gulf country by next year.