Kuwait’s Global Investment House Q3 loss widens on market woes

Kuwait’s Global Investment House Q3 loss widens on market woes

Kuwait's Global Investment House saw its third-quarter net loss widen as the bank continued to battle difficult market conditions, according to a statement on Wednesday.

November 24, 2011 2:00 by Reuters

Global posted a net loss of 15.46 million dinars ($55.92 million) for the three months to Sept. 30, according to Reuters calculations, up from 11.8 million dinars net loss in the corresponding period of 2010.

Losses on principal investments increased by 3.3 million dinars in the quarter, to 31.5 million dinars for the first nine months of the year, which the company blamed in the statement on fair valuation adjustments on equity assets and portfolio cost of funding.

This quarterly loss wiped out the 3.3 million dinars of operating income generated by it asset management, investment banking and brokerage operations.

Global said in September that it was asking lenders for a delay to principal repayments on debt due in December to allow for a renegotiation of the $1.7 billion debt restructuring plan it agreed in 2009.

At the end of September, Global had repaid $232.8 million of the total debt amount, the bank said in the results statement.

Holders of a 45 million dinars bond due to mature in April 2012 will be asked to delay repayment until June at a meeting on December 5, Global said on Monday. ($1 = 0.2765 Kuwaiti dinars) (Reporting by David French in Dubai; Editing by Firouz Sedarat)