Global raises $500mn in London offer-Shariah 101

LONDON LISTING: Global Investment House has raised $500 million in an initial public offering for a private equity fund. (Getty Images)

Kuwait’s Global Investment House said on Wednesday it had raised $500 million in an initial public offering for a private equity fund to be listed in London.

Kuwait’s largest investment bank by market value, said in a statement it had sold about 252 million shares at 100 pence ($2) per share to European and Middle Eastern investors.

The offer price represented a 5.6 percent discount to Global MENA Financial Assets Ltd’s estimated net asset value per share.

Global MENA is to list the shares on the London Stock Exchange on July 18.

“The net proceeds of the offer will be used to acquire from Global Investment House a portfolio of eight financial services sector assets in financial institutions predominantly in the Middle East and North Africa,” Global said in the statement.

Global MENA, in which Global will retain a 29.99 percent stake, is a closed-end fund to invest in the financial sector in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Global, which buys into companies and sells them through funds, raised $1.15 billion in May by selling global depositary receipts (GDRs) in London to fund an expansion in the Middle East. (Reuters)