Kuwait

Kuwait’s Public Institution for Social Security is seeking the liquidation of Abraaj Holdings as creditors step up pressure on the Dubai-based buyout firm that’s facing allegations of misused funds, Bloomberg News reported. The fund filed a petition in the Cayman Islands for the liquidation and winding up of Abraaj Holdings after the firm defaulted on a $100 million loan that was due on June 3, the Public Institution for Social Security said in a statement. The fund holds a stake in Abraaj Holdings and had provided $731.8 million in loans and investments by 2013, it said.

Kuwait’s pension fund is trying to force private-equity firm Abraaj Group into bankruptcy proceedings over allegedly not repaying a $100 million loan, according to a court document, upending efforts to save Dubai’s star investor, The Wall Street Journal reported. In a document filed May 22 in the Cayman Islands court system, Kuwait’s Public Institution for Social Security says Abraaj is “substantially insolvent” and unable to repay the loan and $7 million interest by the agreed upon date, which is Sunday.

Indebted Kuwaiti financial firm Investment Dar is seeking court approval to help close a 813 million dinar ($2.7 billion) debt restructuring, according to an official document seen by Reuters. The new plan, called Dasman, is designed to overcome minority creditor dissent to earlier proposals by asking Kuwait's Court of Appeal to impose the deal on all creditors. The plan involves transferring Investment Dar's assets, and the management of their disposal, directly to creditors.

Investment Dar, the Kuwaiti firm best-known for its stake in luxury carmaker Aston Martin, hopes to complete a second debt-for-assets deal with creditors by the end of March, it said in a bourse statement on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The sharia-compliant firm said on Nov. 18 it had received the backing of a "significant majority of investors" for the proposal, which would see creditors voluntarily exchanging debt for ownership of a portfolio of assets.

Kuwait is finalising what will be the Gulf's first insolvency legislation designed to help failed businesses recover from financial difficulties rather than be shutdown, leaving creditors out of pocket, ArabianBusiness.com reported. The draft law would allow companies at the brink of financial collapse to seek court protection and business rehabilitation, instead of liquidation, DLA Piper regional managing partner Abdul Aziz Al Yaqout, who has been working on the legislation, told Arabian Business.

Kuwait's Global Investment House said on Wednesday that it had completed a $1.7 billion restructuring plan, the second at the firm since the global financial crisis, Reuters reported. Under the plan, Global separated its core fee business from other parts of the company which were spun off into special purpose vehicles (SPV). Global was one of several Kuwaiti investment firms hit hard by the crisis. It used short-term debt to invest heavily in local real estate and stocks whose values later slumped. Global created two SPVs under the plan.

Global Investment House KSCC signed formal agreements with all its creditors to restructure $1.7 billion of debt after the Kuwaiti investment bank won a U.K. court’s approval and its shareholders agreed to delist stock, Bloomberg reported. The company’s core business will comprise about $3.5 billion of assets under management, investment banking and brokerage businesses, Global said in a statement distributed via the Regulatory News Service today. The majority of non-core investment and real-estate assets will be transferred to a special purpose entity, it said.

Kuwaiti firm Global Investment House’s decision to use the UK courts could set a new precedent for debt restructuring in the Gulf as the company bypasses Kuwaiti law to push through its second debt deal in three years, the Financial Times reported. The Gulf company is the first to try to use a London court “scheme” to force a minority of creditors to accept the terms of its new $1.7bn restructuring plan, which aims to grant creditors a 70 per cent stake in the investment company.

Kuwait's Global Investment House secured backing from the majority of bank creditors for its restructuring on Monday, a move the debt-laden firm hopes will be a significant step in ending its financial troubles, Reuters reported. The Kuwaiti investment company and asset manager, undergoing its second debt restructuring in three years, may be able to implement the plan as soon as next week if it wins the approval of a High Court of Justice in London scheduled for Dec. 3.

Kuwait's Global Investment House , buffeted by a real estate slump and market turbulence, posted further losses on Tuesday and said it had yet to persuade a handful of creditors to back a second debt restructuring in three years. The company, whose major shareholders include the governments of Kuwait and Dubai, lost 14.9 million dinars ($52.8 million) in the three months to Sept. 30 versus a 15.5 million dinars loss for the same period of 2011, Reuters calculated based on a statement to the London Stock Exchange.