Monday, April 26, 2004
BSE de-lists BIB and suspends trading of AHLIA
The Director of the Bahrain Stock Exchange (BSE), Mr. Fouad Rashid, yesterday issued two resolutions. The first resolution was to de-list Bahrain International Bank from the BSE. The decision was based on a request from the bank’s temporary committee to liquidate its assets and was approved by the Capital Markets Control Directorate (CMS)at the Bahrain Monetary Agency.

The second resolution was issued to temporarily suspend trading of shares of Al Ahlia Insurance Company as per the request of the CMS Directorate.

Both resolutions are effective as of Monday, April 26, 2004.

Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Khaleej Equity Fund lists on the BSE
With the aim of developing the capital market and expanding the bonds and funds market, an agreement was signed yesterday between Mr. Fouad Rashid, Director of Bahrain Stock Exchange (BSE), and Mr. Anthony Mallis, Chairman of SICO Funds Company, to list the “Khaleej Equity Fund” on the BSE.

The open-ended Fund was recently established in Bahrain to benefit from the excellent investment environment that the laws and regulations of investment in Kingdom of Bahrain provide, Mr. Mallis said.

Securities & Investment Co. (SICO) will serve as the Investment Manager for the Fund that will seek to achieve long-term capital appreciation through investing principally in equity securities listed on the stock markets of the GCC countries. From time to time the Fund will also invest in equity related, hybrid, and debt securities listed in the six GCC countries, the Chairman clarified.

The size of the Fund on the date of initial closing was US$13.3 million attracting interest from local as well as regional investors. The face value of each unit is US$100. Minimum initial investment in the Fund is $100,000. Redemptions can be made on a monthly basis after the initial lock up period of six months from initial closing, Mr. Mallis added.

Mr. Fouad Rashid, Director of the Bahrain Stock Exchange, welcomed the listing of the Fund and encouraged companies and financial institutions to benefit from the legal and technical systems as well as the media facilities provided by BSE to issue and list different types of financial products.

With the listing of the Khaleej Equity Fund, the total number of mutual funds listed with BSE will reach 28, managed by a number of local, regional, and international financial institutions.

Thursday, February 26, 2004
US$50 million Ijara Sukuk Listed
Bahrain Stock Exchange today lists the 8th US$50 million Ijara Securities Sukuk issued by the Bahrain Monetary Agency (BMA) on behalf of the Ministry of Finance and National Economy.

The returns (rents) on these securities will be at floating rate of 30 Basis Point over LIBOR paid every six months on 15th June and on 15th December every year throughout the period of this issue. The securities were issued for a period of three years at a par value of US$10,000 each and the minimum subscription limit was US$10,000.

Mr. Fuad Rashid, Director of Bahrain Stock Exchange (BSE) welcomed the efforts taken by BMA to list Sukuk Issues in BSE emphasizing that they will reinforce the position of BSE as a regional center for listing and trading all types of Islamic financial products. “Those effort will definitely contribute to strengthen the position of the kingdom as the leading financial center in the region and increase its competitiveness to attract all types of both conventional and Islamic investments” Mr. Rashid added.

With this listing, the total number of conventional bonds and Islamic sukuk listed in BSE has reached 15 issues with a total value of US$ 2 billion.

Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Gulf Finance House shares listed on the BSE
An agreement was signed yesterday to list Bahrain-based Gulf Finance House’ shares as a public shareholding company on the Bahrain Stock Exchange (BSE), a bourse statement said.

The agreement was signed by Fuad Rashid, Director of the BSE and Essam Janahi, Chief Executive of Gulf Finance House (GFH).

Rashid welcomed the listing of the GFH on the bourse, stressing that “GFH set an example which we hope other closed companies would follow.”

The move also reflects the confidence that companies have in the BSE, he said. “Companies listed in the bourse will have more credibility among investors and financial institutions which will facilitate the process of financing their future expansion plans,” Rashid added.

Forty six companies have so far been listed on the BSE.

GFH, with a capital of $135 million divided into 409,090,909, was established in the Kingdom of Bahrain in 1999 as an Investment Bank. Its services include providing Islamic financial instruments, such as real estate investment, infrastructure investment, direct investment, structured finance and securitisation, liquidity management and consultancy and advisory services.

“The listing of the GFH is a turning point in the bank’s history that is aimed to enhance its position among the investors in the capital markets locally and regionally,” said Janahi.

He pointed out that shares of the GFH would be listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange next week in order to make the shares available to a wide base of investors.

Sunday, January 04, 2004
Esterad move to Investments sector
Head of Operations in Bahrain Stock Exchange Mr. Essa ALAmadi said today that Esterad Investment Company has been moved to Investment sector from Services sector due to the change in the company’s nature of work . ALAmadi added that this step will be effective as of today 4th January 2004 .

It is known that Esterad’s General Assembly Meeting has recently agreed to change the company’s name from National Import & Export Company to Esterad Investment Company .