Shares of GFH will be cross-listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX)

On Sunday, GFH Financial Group, previously known as Gulf Finance House, an Islamic investment bank based in Bahrain, plans to cross-list its shares on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) in May 2022.

Financial services, investments, and commercial banking constitute the business lines of GFH. Real Estate Development, Commercial Banking, Wealth Management, and Asset Management are the main activities of GFH. The corporate portfolio and the real estate portfolio are divided between GFH’s asset management activities.

This listing will be the investment bank’s fourth regional listing, with GFH shares already actively traded on the Bahrain Bourse (BHB), Dubai Financial Market (DFM), and Boursa Kuwait (BK).

ADX, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange is a stock exchange in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and is one of the most attractive and largest GCC exchanges in terms of liquidity, trading volumes, and shareholder return. It also ranked first among GCC exchanges in 2021 for the highest year-on-year increase in trading volumetric.

Hisham Alrayes, chief executive of GFH, said that the company’s shares would now have more liquidity with this move. In this listing, they will be better positioned to serve our existing shareholders in the UAE and Abu Dhabi and to attract new ones from among ADX’s sizable retail and institutional investor base.

Alrayes added that the company will become the first issuer listed on four main Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stock exchanges.

GFH is going to distribute dividends worth $60 million for FY 2021 which includes cash profits for all ordinary shares, save for treasury shares at 4.57 percent of the nominal value of the share (equal to $0.0231 per share), equal to $45 million.

The recommendation also includes bonus shares of 1.5 percent of the nominal value of all the ordinary shares (one share per 66.71 shares), equal to $15 million.

The shareholders of GFH approved the distribution of dividends at the annual general meeting held on April 3rd.