GFH, Terra ink $100m Real estate exit deal

GFH Financial Group (GFH) yesterday announced signing a US$100 million real estate divestment as part of its previously announced US$ 1 billion in exits from its real estate portfolio. The transaction was signed with an SPV owned by Terra Real Estate Investments LLC (Terra), with instrumental support from ADFG.

The deal will see Terra acquire US$40 million worth of real estate accounting for 72 per cent of GFH’s landmark Harbour Row Residence in Bahrain and US$60 million of the Group’s real estate development project in Morocco. This transaction is expected to positively impact the Group’s first quarter 2019 results.

This deal comes as part of a planned exit from GFH’s legacy real estate portfolio to be undertaken over the next five years, with proceeds of the deals expected to support profit distribution and the growth strategy of the Group. Commenting on the exit, Hisham Alrayes, CEO of GFH, said “We are committed to achieving a series of further exits from our real estate portfolio to allow the Group to minimize and reduce our overall real estate exposure.

Such planned exits are aimed to realign all assets classes to have balanced contributions to GFH’s operations and income generation.”