GFH board approves voluntary Kuwait delisting

11th September 2015

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Kuwaiti traders follow the market's movement at the Stock Exchange in Kuwait City on October 6, 2008. Kuwait Stock Exchange, the second largest in the Arab world, shed 3.45 percent today to finish on 11,951.70 points, closing below the 12,000-point mark for the first time in over 15 months. The Saudi stock market, the largest in the Arab world, shed almost 10 percent halfway through trading and shares in other energy-rich Arab states in the Gulf also slumped amid the global financial turmoil. AFP PHOTO/YASSER AL-ZAYYAT (Photo credit should read YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP/Getty Images)

Gulf Finance House, the Bahrain-based investment firm, said on Sunday its board of directors had approved the voluntary delisting of its shares from the Kuwait Stock Exchange.

It will begin the application process for delisting with Kuwait’s Capital Market Authority, although the bourse filing did not disclose in its announcement a date for when shares would cease trading.

The decision means GFH can focus trading on its home and Dubai, the secondary market for its shares.

The move would also save on the costs of the listing and eliminate any possible arbitrage opportunities and incidences of violating rules in Kuwait which contradict regulations in its home market, the statement added.

GFH said in July it was once again studying the possibility of delisting in Kuwait, after announcing in April a review of its listings that ultimately kept Kuwait but decided to delist its global depositary receipts in London.