Thursday, May 09, 2013
BEIRUT (Zawya Dow Jones)--Kuwait's Global Investment House (GLOBAL.KW) on Thursday said that its shareholders have amended the company's statutes to allow non-Kuwaitis to hold all its shares in accordance with the provisions of existing laws.
The asset management and investment firm, which had previously agreed with its creditor banks on a debt-to-equity swap, said that its shareholders have cancelled a clause that stipulated that non-Kuwaitis couldn't own more than 49% of its capital.
The shareholders have also annulled another clause that prohibited a single shareholder from subscribing to more than 20% of the authorized capital, Global said in a statement posted on the Bahraini bourse website. It added that the cancelled clause also forbade a single shareholder from holding a stake of more than 20% at any time unless this stake is acquired through inheritance, will, or donation.
Global said in December that it had concluded a deal with its bank creditors as part of a $1.7 billion debt restructuring process. The deal would result in the creditors' holding 70% of the company's capital while the combined stake of the existing shareholders would be reduced to 30%.
The restructuring plan involves a debt-to-equity swap through an increase of Global's capital and also includes the writing off of its accumulated losses.
Write to Shikrallah Nakhoul at shikrallah@zawya.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
09-05-13 0930GMT
