Tuesday, Jul 03, 2012

DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Dubai's Gulf General Investment Co. (GGICO.DFM), or GGICO, on Tuesday said it finalized a debt restructuring deal with its 25 creditors that includes extending the company's debt maturities.

GGCIO started the restructuring of its debt at the beginning of 2011 and has now reached a deal, capping 18 months of negotiations that will see its debt repayments extended by seven years through new amortizing facilities, according to a statement on the Dubai bourse website. It didn't provide further details.

"As evidence of these changes, GGICO continues to improve operating margins, returning to a profit in Q1 2012 after 2 years of continued losses, and will continue to trade out of non?core assets and de-lever," the statement said.

The company, which has assets of around 7 billion U.A.E. dirhams ($1.91 billion) and 19 subsidiaries, was advised by Allen & Overy, Al Tamimi & Co. and HSBC.

GGICO is active through its subsidiaries in areas such as manufacturing, industrials, trading, insurance, retail, services, transport and hospitality.

-By Nicolas Parasie, Dow Jones Newswires, +9714 446 1681, nicolas.parasie@dowjones.com; Twitter: @ZDJnews

Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Co.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-07-12 0545GMT