By the time that Gulf Finance House lists its GDRs on the London Stock Exchange it will be one of the most listed firms in the world, counting four stock exchanges which now include the Dubai Financial Market, as well as the
But it hasn’t been smooth sailing all the way. Early this year GFH fell into trouble with the Kuwaiti Stock Exchange who issued a statement to the Kuwaiti press concerning a number of high profile firms including GFH who did not disclose the names of shareholders with stakes above 5%[7]. GFH also had their share of trouble in Jordan with the Greater Amman Municipality after a fire broke out on August 25th 2006 on the eighth floor of the 40 storey $300 million Jordan Gate project resulting a full three weeks later in the collapse of the same floor of the building killing four workers and injuring 15 others[8]. Work was suspended and it was revealed that the building contractors had not even received license to commence construction which lead to a five month delay not to mention a barrage of criticism from Jordanian officials concerning location, underrepresented traffic figures[9] as well as protests over the value of the land sold[10].
GFH which has a market capitalistion $1.5 billion[11] is beyond a doubt the star of the sombre Bahrain Stock Exchange. It is also one of the best performing stocks in the GCC region in the past few years with investments diversified in places ranging from
GFH was a pioneer in developing the highly perplexing pipe-line investment structure to market their new projects. This scheme starts in the
Ultimately it all boils down to one single question.
Do superior dividend returns and growth in stock value justify investing in a business with family connections?
You decide.
[1] http://cm2.zawya.com/researchreports/kmefic/20061017_KMEFIC_082107.pdf
[2] http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41719.htm
[3] http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20030717084808
[4] http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20060704042521
[5] http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20060808032842
[6] http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20070528042708
[7] http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20070106062207
[8] http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20060924030644
[9] Ibid
[10] http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20050701070223
[11] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/75779046-1238-11dc-b963-000b5df10621.html
[12] http://cm2.zawya.com/researchreports/kmefic/20070205_KMEFIC_064547.pdf
2 comments:
You forgot to mention that GFH is now persona non grata in Bahrain and won't be directly awarded any further projects in the Kingdom.
Contrast the performance of the share price now ...
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