GFH Financial Group

GFH

Type| Public

Traded as

| Template:Bhse
Template:DFM
Founded| 1999; 27 years ago (1999)
Headquarters| Bahrain Financial Harbour,

Manama

Bahrain

Area served

| Middle East

Key people

| Hisham Alrayes (CEO)
Services| Investment banking
Divisions| Wealth Management
Commercial Banking
Asset Management
Real estate investment
Subsidiaries| GFH Capital
Website| gfh.com

GFH Financial Group, previously known as Gulf Finance House, is an Islamic investment bank with headquarters in Bahrain Financial Harbour, Bahrain.[1]

One of its most notable investments was a 25% stake in the English football club Leeds United[2] through their wholly owned subsidiary, Dubai-based GFH Capital, having initially acquired 100% ownership of the club from Ken Bates in December 2012.[3] On 7 February 2014 GFH Capital announced that they had exchanged contracts for the sale of Leeds to Massimo Cellino's family consortium 'Eleonora Sport Ltd'. The deal saw the Cellino family acquire a 75% ownership of the club in April 2014 after winning an appeal against the Football League's decision initially to block the sale.[4] When Andrea Radrizan bought the club, GFH sold all of their shares in Leeds United in May of 2017. Salem Patel, a non executive director of GFH, created an account on a popular Leeds United fan forum, named ‘Melas’ (Salem, backwards) to ask question about signing players and to share positive news about GFH with the fans. This was exposed fairly quickly and fans protested against their ownership and the ownership of Massimo Cellino on many occasions including marches and mock funerals outside of the club’s stadium.

## Contents

* 1 History of GFH
* 2 Services
* 3 GFH major investments
* 3.1 Real estate development projects
* 3.2 Corporate investment projects
* 3.3 Real estate investment
* 4 See also
* 5 References

## History of GFH

GFH was established in the Kingdom of Bahrain in 1999 under a license granted by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). Since its inception, GFH raised over US$11 billion of investments. The bank carries on its business activities in accordance with the principles of Islamic Sharia, including financial services investment and commercial transaction, negotiable financial instrument, real estate and infrastructure; in addition to structured finance, securities and liquidity management designed to achieve profitable returns for investors.

GFH was transferred to a Public Shareholding Company in 2004 with its shares being listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange, Kuwait Stock Exchange and Dubai Financial Market. In 2007, GFH listed its GDR’s on the London Stock Exchange.

In November 2014, GFH released a new identity when it moved from being an investment bank to a financial group. The new name for the group was GFH Financial Group.[5]

## Services

GFH's business lines cover aspects of financial services, from financial and investments to commercial banking operations. GFH's range of activities are Real Estate Development, Commercial Banking, Wealth Management and Asset Management. GFH splits its asset management activities into two areas: Corporate Investment and Real Estate Investment.[6]

## GFH major investments

### Real estate development projects

Source:[7]

* Royal Ranches Marrakech
* Energy City Qatar
* GFH Mumbai Economic Development Zone
* Energy City Libya
* Tunis Financial Harbor
* Bahrain Financial Harbour

### Corporate investment projects

Source:[8]

* Khaleeji Commercial Bank (KHCB)
* Philadelphia Private School, Dubai
* Leeds United Football Club
* Cemena Investment Company
* Al Basha’er GCC Equity Fund
* Injazat Technology Fund

### Real estate investment

Source:[9]

* Diversified US Residential Portfolio, USA
* 42 Queens Gate Gardens
* UK and Gulf Atlantic Real Estate, UK
* SQ Asset Management, USA[10]

## See also

* List of banks in Bahrain

## References

1. ↑ "GFH New Brand". Gulf Daily News. 22 Nov 2014. http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=390063.
2. ↑ "Cellino given go-ahead to purchase Leeds United". Reuters. 5 April 2014. http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-england-leeds-idUKBREA340F620140405.
3. ↑ "Leeds United: GFH Capital completes takeover". BBC. 21 December 2012. https://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/20809027.
4. ↑ "Leeds United: Massimo Cellino wins takeover appeal". BBC. 5 April 2014. https://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/26902775.
5. ↑ "GFH New Branding". Gulf Daily News. http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=390063. Retrieved Nov 17, 2014.
6. ↑ "Range of Activities". Gulf Finance House. http://gfh.com/wp-content/uploads/Annual-Report-2014.pdf. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
7. ↑ "Real Estate Development". Gulf Finance House. http://gfh.com/wp-content/uploads/Annual-Report-2014.pdf. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
8. ↑ "Corporate Investment Projects". Gulf Finance House. http://gfh.com/wp-content/uploads/Annual-Report-2014.pdf. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
9. ↑ "Real Estate Investment". Gulf Finance House. http://gfh.com/wp-content/uploads/Annual-Report-2014.pdf. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
10. ↑ "GFH expands global operations in the US by acquiring a majority stake of SQ Asset Management" (in en-US). 2022-05-09. https://www.nsbanking.com/news/gfh-expands-global-operations-in-the-us-by-acquiring-a-majority-stake-of-sq-asset-management/.

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