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 ma ...

investment bank 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 ...

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 cover ...

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and a ...

. One of its most notable investments is a 25% stake in the UK Football

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

club

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

through their wholly owned subsidiary, Dubai-based GFH Capital, having initially acquired 100% ownership of the club from

Ken Bates Kenneth William Bates (born 4 December 1931) is a British businessman, football executive and hotelier. He was involved in the development of Wembley Stadium and is the former owner and chairman of football clubs Chelsea and Leeds United. Bate ...

in December 2012. On 7 February 2014 GFH Capital 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 The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) is the central bank of Bahrain. It is a public corporate entity established by the ''Central Bank of Bahrain and Financial Institutions Law 2006.'' It was created on 6 September 2006. ''Decree No. 64 of 2006 with ...

(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 is ...

and commercial transaction, negotiable financial instrument,

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...

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 A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any for ...

and

liquidity management Liquidity is a concept in economics involving the convertibility of assets and obligations. It can include: * Market liquidity, the ease with which an asset can be sold * Accounting liquidity In accounting, liquidity (or accounting liquidity) ...

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 London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

. 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 Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re- lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to other ...

Commercial Banking A commercial bank is a financial institution which accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit. It can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which deals with c ...

Wealth Management Wealth management (WM) or wealth management advisory (WMA) is an investment advisory service that provides financial management and wealth advisory services to a wide array of clients ranging from affluent to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high ...

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 A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

Investment and

Real Estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...

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 Khaleeji Commercial Bank BSC (KHCB) is an Islamic bank, headquartered in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and operating under a Retail Islamic Banking license granted by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). It is a Public Bahraini Shareholding Company list ...

(KHCB) *Philadelphia Private School, Dubai *

Leeds United Football Club Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

*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