GFH Financial Group pays down over $37 million in debt

GFH Financial Group (GFH), which is a Bahrain-based financial group, has repaid $37.5 million (USD) to its debt syndicates, repayments that come in addition to another $33 million GFH had already paid to its debt holders in 2014; together, the payments from last year and this year represent more than 30 percent of the group's outstanding debt facilities, which is an important step toward strengthening the company's financial future.

Hisham Al Rayes, CEO of GFH Financial Group, said that the financial institution is pleased to strengthen the company’s balance sheet with the scheduled repayments to debt holders.

“Over the last seven to eight years, we have de-leveraged significantly, having had liabilities in excess of $1 billion compared with the current $137 million,” Al Rayes said. “We are on track to repay these debts based on cash flow estimates from our business and in line with our strategy which remains focused on unlocking value and cash flow generation from our commercial and investment banking business as well as from group subsidiaries." 

GFH now has an outstanding debt of $137 million under three debt facilities. The facilities have to be repaid on an amortized basis through 2019. As of June 30, the group's debt-to-equity ratio stood at only 0.24, which underscores the strength of GFH's balance sheet.