Bahrain

Small carrier Bahrain Air said on Tuesday it was shutting down, blaming political unrest in the island kingdom and the government's refusal to pay it compensation, Reuters reported. The privately owned airline, launched in 2008, has four planes and was flying to about a dozen destinations in the Middle East and south Asia. It struggled to compete with Bahrain's larger flag carrier, Gulf Air, and low-cost airlines in the region.

Bahrain-based Arcapita Bank, the first Gulf company to file for bankruptcy in the United States under Chapter 11 rules, said on Saturday it had submitted a plan to reorganise the company, Reuters reported. The investment firm filed for bankruptcy in New York in March and was given court approval in November to take out a $125 million sharia-compliant loan to provide funding while it restructured its debts. Arcapita's case is being closely watched in the Gulf, where companies have little recourse to orderly ways of dealing with insolvency.

Bahrain-based Gulf Air will launch a major cost-cutting plan and focus increasingly on regional services, Air Transport World reported. In a statement issued Tuesday, the carrier said it intends to strengthen its Middle East and North African (MENA) services, target 24% in cost savings by year end and simplify its fleet structure. The restructuring was foreshadowed by October’s announcement of a BD185 million ($494 million) government cash injection in the loss-making national carrier. Lawmakers also talked of halving the current 3,800 workforce and reducing its fleet from 39 to 20 aircraft.

Bahrain-based Arcapita Bank gained court approval on Wednesday for a $125 million bankruptcy loan from Fortress Investment Group, believed to be the first such loan consistent with sharia, Islamic law, Reuters reported. The loan, approved by Judge Sean Lane in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, New York, will fund Arcapita as it tries to restructure debt after filing for bankruptcy in March. Wednesday's hearing was delayed two hours as Arcapita, its creditors and Fortress negotiated over the price of the deal, Dennis Dunne, a lawyer for Arcapita's creditors' committee, told the judge.

A unit of Bahrain investment house Arcapita has filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States, the company said in a statement, Reuters reported. Falcon Gas Storage Company, a non-operating subsidiary of Arcapita, also intends to file a motion for joint administration with its parent company for the ongoing Chapter 11 restructuring, it said in the statement late on Monday. In March, Arcapita became the first Gulf entity to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U. S. after it was threatened with legal action if it did not repay a hedge fund in full.

Bahraini investment house Arcapita's move to file for bankruptcy protection in the United States, while a milestone for debt restructuring in the Gulf, is unlikely to prompt other regional firms to follow suit, Reuters reported. Arcapita became the first Gulf Arab firm to file for Chapter 11 in the U.S. on Monday, under pressure from hedge funds which demanded full repayment ahead of the maturity of a $1.1 billion Islamic finance facility on March 28.

Arcapita Bank, a Bahraini investment firm heavily invested in the United States and Europe, said Monday it has filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection in a bid to reorganize the company, the Associated Press reported. The firm, whose investments include U.S. women's apparel retailer J. Jill and British rail company Freightliner, sought Chapter 11 protection after failing to refinance a $1.1 billion loan due on March 28. It said it is using the filing as a way to protect its assets while it works out a turnaround plan. None of the companies Arcapita owns is included in the filing.

The Justice Department's bankruptcy trustee is protesting Bahrain's Awal Bank BSC's request to withhold from public view amounts owed to creditors and other financial details typically exposed in Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The objection filed Wednesday puts the bankruptcy trustee at odds with the foreign administrator that Bahraini authorities have appointed to manage Awal's insolvency proceedings around the globe. That administrator has said that withholding specific creditor details is in line with procedures followed in Bahrain.

A bankruptcy judge granted Bahrain's Awal Bank BSC a two-week extension to control its bankruptcy case, setting up a showdown with its only U.S. creditor, HSBC Bank USA, which is seeking to have the Chapter 11 case thrown out, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The extension Judge Allan L. Gropper of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan approved Thursday will allow Awal to make its argument to maintain control of its bankruptcy until August at the same hearing that HSBC Holdings PLC's U.S. unit will ask the judge to dismiss the case. That hearing is set for March 1.

Bahrain's Awal Bank BSC is withdrawing its request to withhold financial details and now plans to comply with Chapter 11 disclosure requirements, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Awal's U.K.-based administrator had previously asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan for permission to follow the protocol of reorganizations in Bahrain, allowing the company to withhold information typically made public in U.S. cases, such as the exact amounts owed to the 20 largest creditors. Bahraini authorities placed Awal into administration in July 2009.