Kuwait

Kuwait's Global Investment House requested its creditors Thursday to delay repayment of debt due in December citing ongoing challenges in the financial markets, Agence France-Presse reported. "Global requested the lending banks’ support for the near-term deferral of principal repayments due in December 2011 and deferral of any increase in rate of interest from December 2011 onwards," the company said following a meeting with creditors. Under a restructuring plan signed in December 2009, Global was expected to repay more than $340 million of debt plus interest.

Kuwait Finance House, the country's biggest Islamic lender, said on Sunday it has signed a deal with Gulf Investment House to restructure the KD49.5 million ($180 million) it owes in debts, TradeArabia reported. The agreement 'includes converting the current debts from short term to medium term for a period of five years. The agreement was signed in collaboration with Boubyan Bank and Burgan Bank,' KFH said in a statement.

One has to hand it to Adnan Al-Musallam, chairman of The Investment Dar (TID), the Kuwait-based Islamic investment company, which owes its creditors over $3.5 billion. Over the last two years, he has fought off any attempt from some creditors to put TID under administration or declare it bankrupt, ArabNews.com reported. He has successfully persuaded the court in Kuwait to give his debt-restructuring plan a chance to the chagrin of a few of TID’s creditors.

Investment Dar Co., the owner of half of Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd., said its management and the coordinating committee that represents its creditors agreed to the final details of a restructuring plan, Bloomberg reported. The details of the "long form term-sheet, which sets out the mechanics of the proposed restructuring plan, were agreed" in meeting on March 16, Kuwait-based Investment Dar said in an e-mailed statement Sunday. The plan is under review by a Kuwaiti court, which holds its next hearing on April 7, it said.

Kuwait's Investment Dar, owner of half of luxury carmaker Aston Martin, proposed asset sales of about $1.69 billion over three years to creditors to restructure its debt pile, banking sources said Wednesday, Reuters reported. Dar, as part of a $3.58 billion restructuring plan, will sell its stakes in Kuwait's Boubyan Bank and Bahrain Islamic Bank. The 20 percent Boubyan stake, whose ownership is under dispute, is valued at $752 million while its 40 percent Bahrain Islamic stake is worth around $155 million, based on current market capitalization.

The Iraqi government has said it will close the state-owned Iraqi Airways after declaring it bankrupt, the BBC reported. Iraq's transportation ministry told reporters the airline would be closed following a damaging dispute with Kuwait over war reparations. Kuwait Airways says the Iraqi flag carrier owes it about $1.2bn for aircraft and plane parts taken during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. All scheduled Iraqi Airways flights have been cancelled.

Kuwait's Investment Dar, the Islamic financial firm that owns half of British luxury carmaker Aston Martin, plans to present a proposed debt restructuring plan to creditors this month, the company said Sunday. The meetings organized by Dar and the nine-member Coordinating Committee representing creditors will take place in Kuwait and Dubai on November 24 and November 25 respectively, the company said in a statement. The creditors will have a period of time to review and approve the plan after the meetings, Dar said.

In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar, BusinessWeek reported.

The Kuwait Islamic investment firm that owns half of British luxury car maker Aston Martin says it has appointed a chief officer to restructure its debts, BusinessWeek reported. The Investment Dar said in an announcement Sunday, the new manager, Mike Grant, brings to the company over 20 years of experience. The company is one of several Kuwaiti banks and investment houses to run into trouble as the global economic meltdown hammered this small oil-rich state in the Gulf.

Global Investment House (GIH), the largest investment bank in Kuwait, has been downgraded to a notch above default by Fitch Ratings after the bank warned it may default on a loan, The National reported. The rerating to a ‘C’ came after GIH told Fitch that it is unable to repay a loan which matured yesterday. The company has a grace period of 72 hours to meet the obligation before defaulting. The downgrade followed the announcement from GIH earlier this month that it was seeking US$1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) from local banks.