20 July 2009
Natalia Nasser
Regional Press Network
BEIRUT: Lebanon's Corporate Finance House (CFH) received approval from the Dubai International Financial Center Authority to launch GFH International Real-Estate, a $100 million real-estate firm in Dubai, to invest in European real-estate markets, specifically in London and Paris.
The company's launch is part of CFH's strategy "to take advantage of low real-estate prices after the global financial crisis and before the expected rebound in European real-estate markets," which Fawzi Farah, CFH's executive director, predicts will happen soon.
According to sources close to the firm, CFH has already se-cured financing for half of the new firm's capital. "CFH received a $50 million financing loan from one of the UAE's banks," the source said.
CFH will hold a 5 percent stake and the balance will be raised through a private placement. Farah expects the share sale scheduled for late September to attract overwhelming interest from institutional and individual investors from the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
"Investors from other Arab states such as Lebanon have also expressed interest to invest in GFH International," he said.
Farah forecasts CFH to generate annual revenues of 15 percent to 17 percent at an initial stage "which will rise later to higher rates when real-estate markets fully rebound from the global crisis," he adds.
CFH, a private firm based in Lebanon with headquarters in Dubai, offers investment banking services including fund ma-nagement, corporate finance and investment advisory. The firm plans to open an office in Saudi Arabia later this year after receiving approval from Saudi au-thorities. CFH currently acts as the fund manager of the Mereo and Mereo Two and the Menavset Funds.
It is also developing the $60 million, West Wharf residential project in Dubai that is expected to be completed in September of 2009, and a $100 million residential and commercial project in the Abdali region in Jordan.
Copyright The Daily Star 2009.
