Gulf General Insurance Company (GGICO) has signed a restructuring deal on a debt pile of $584 million (2.1 billion UAE dirham) after negotiating agreements with a majority of its creditors, the company said in a press release.

Dubai-based GGICO, which has been in business since 1973, has investments in a range of businesses, including the Time Hotels & Resorts company, various real estate assets, a retail arm and a number of manufacturing businesses. Its chairman, Abdalla Juma Al Sari, said that the restructuring was of benefit both for the company and its creditors because it allows for a planned sale of non-core assets.

“Driven by market conditions, we have obtained enough time until 2023 to dispose of our non-core assets in an organised and structured manner and to retire the debts," he said.

"Subsequently, the company will focus on its core assets with very low leverage,” he added.

GGICO is listed on the Dubai Financial Market. Its most recent filed accounts for the first six months of 2017 show that it incurred a loss of almost 90 million UAE dirhams (compared to a profit of 25 million UAE dirhams in the same period last year). Revenue fell by nearly 39 percent to 291.4 million UAE dirhams.

© Zawya 2017