North Africa/Middle East

A restructuring of billions of dollars of debt at a leading Saudi Arabian steel manufacturer has set a new precedent for complex financial restructurings in the kingdom, lawyers say. Last week, Al-Ittefaq Steel Products Company and 18 banks reached an out-of-court agreement to refinance about SR7.5bn ($2bn), the Financial Times reported. Under the arrangements, none of the banks will take write-offs and the company will be able to continue some of its expansion plans.

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.

Indebted real estate developer Nakheel said on Thursday it had secured over 98 percent, or near unanimous, approval for its $10.9 billion debt restructuring plan from banks, Reuters reported. Under Nakheel's restructuring proposal, trade creditors would receive repayment through 40 percent cash and 60 percent in the form of a $1.63 billion Islamic bond, expected by the end of the first half.

The International Monetary Fund agreed Sunday to lend Egypt $3 billion with few stated conditions to help the country mend its ailing economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. Egypt's finance minister, Samir Radwan, and the deputy director of the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia Department, Ratna Sahay, at a news conference announced a 1.5% interest rate on the one-year loan, which is to be paid in full within five years.

Dubai's government says struggling state conglomerate Dubai World has signed a final agreement with creditors to restructure billions of dollars in debt, Bloomberg Businessweek reported on an Associated Press story. The emirate's media office announced the signing of the deal involving about 80 creditors Wednesday. It formalizes a tentative agreement reached last year. Dubai World secured full creditor support for its $24.9 billion debt restructuring plan in October.

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.

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.

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.

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.