GFH Financial Group, previously known as Gulf Finance House, is an

Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...

investment bank with headquarters in

Bahrain Financial Harbour Bahrain Financial Harbour ( ar, مرفأ البحرين المالي, commonly abbreviated as BFH) is a waterfront commercial development project located on the northern shore of Manama, the capital city of Bahrain. Costing $1.5 billion and cov ...

, Bahrain. One of its most notable investments is a 25% stake in the UK Football Premier League club Leeds United through their wholly owned subsidiary, Dubai-based

GFH Capital GFH Capital, formerly known as Injazat Capital, is a firm of private equity investors, advisors and fund managers, providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. GFH Capital is among the region’s private equity firms, and is l ...

, having initially acquired 100% ownership of the club from Ken Bates in December 2012. On 7 February 2014

announced that they had exchanged contracts for the sale of Leeds to

Massimo Cellino Massimo Cellino (; born 28 July 1956) is an Italian entrepreneur and football club owner. Through his family trust Eleonora Sport Ltd he is the owner of Italian club Brescia Calcio, and is the former owner of italian club Cagliari, and English cl ...

'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.

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 Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...

, including financial services

investment Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...

and commercial transaction, negotiable financial instrument, real estate and

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

; 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 Boursa Kuwait Securities Co., is the private-sector corporate owner and operator of the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE), the national stock market of Kuwait. History Although several share holding companies (such as National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) in ...

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.

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 Asset management is a systematic approach to the governance and realization of value from the things that a group or entity is responsible for, over their whole life cycles. It may apply both to tangible assets (physical objects such as buildings ...

. GFH splits its asset management activities into two areas: Corporate Investment and Real Estate Investment.

GFH major investments

Real estate development projects

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

Corporate investment projects

* 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

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

References

{{Bahrain All Share Index Banks of Bahrain Islamic banks Investment banks Companies listed on the Dubai Financial Market Companies listed on the Bahrain Bourse Companies based in Manama