Khaleej Finance unveils new corporate identity
MANAMA: Khaleej Finance and Investment (KFI) yesterday announced a new corporate identity and a major global expansion plan.
Now known as Capivest, the bank will embark on a series of international investments totalling $1.15bn.
Speaking at a Press conference at the Radisson Diplomat SAS Hotel, Residence and Spa yesterday Capivest chief executive Nabil Hadi announced the name change was in keeping with a more ambitious outlook which will see the firm target major international deals which adhere to its sharia-compliant ethos.
“The bank has adopted a new corporate identity as part of its strategy to go beyond local and regional boundaries and to establish partnerships and alliances on international levels, thus to maintain pace with the changes witnessed by the banking sector in Bahrain and GCC countries,” he said.
Mr Hadi revealed Capivest is targeting a possible $1.15bn of investments around the globe over the next three years.
“In healthcare we are talking about $400 to $500 million and in the financial services industry we are talking about $300m,” he said.
He also revealed that one of the bank's flagship projects in Bahrain - the BD8m Falcon Cement Factory - will begin annual commercial production of 2000 tonnes of cement in the first quarter of 2008.
“When the project was first planned last year it was to have a production capacity of 600 tonnes a day, as changes happened in the real estate industry and demand for cement grew during 2007 the board of directors increased capacity to 1,000 tonnes, and just last week the decision was passed to move to 2,000 tonnes a day,” he explained.
Mr Hadi said KFI had been planning the changes to its identity for two years and had undertaken detailed surveys to understand developments in both conventional and Islamic banking sectors before launching Capivest.
“”The new name is a combination of two words: capital and investment, and was selected due to its simplicity and it being a direct expression of the nature of our business,” he explained.
He said that as well as leaving behind the KFI identity, the newly re-branded firm was able to look back on a solid level of achievement by its previous incarnation, which recently signed off in style with the launch of a $200 million Indian Private Equity Fund.
Last year, KFI raised its capital from $ 21.9m to $52.5m, and Mr Hadi said he expected that Capivest would look to increase its capital in future.
“There is a plan for the capital to increase - we haven't decided yet when, we increased it last year and due to the activities we are planning and the state of the market currently the shareholders are pushing the management to support another increase - but it won't happen this year,” he revealed.
The bank also announced the launch the of its new website www.capivest.com.
Source:
Press Release
