Arcapita assigned BBB credit rating by Standard & Poor’s

Published November 22nd, 2006 - 11:37 GMT

Arcapita Bank B.S.C.(c) - a leading international investment firm headquartered in Bahrain, announced today that Standard & Poor’s has assigned Arcapita a BBB/A-2/Stable rating.

 

This rating, which is above the minimum investment grade, is a reflection of the measured growth of the firm over the last nine years, and its commitment to conservative balance sheet management. S&P stated in its analysis of Arcapita, “The ratings reflect Arcapita’s strong profitability, satisfactory capitalization, sound liquidity, and the good diversification of its investment portfolio.”

 

Atif A.Abdulmalik, CEO of Arcapita, stated “This rating is an important achievement for Arcapita which will enable us to significantly expand our funding sources in markets such as Europe, the United States and Asia. It will also allow us to further reduce our financing costs as we continue to grow our business, and we will be able to pass on these savings in the results we can deliver for our investors.”

 

Arcapita has recently closed its largest transaction to date, the €650 million acquisition of Paroc Holding Sverige AB, a leading manufacturer of insulation products based in Finland, and received shareholder approval for the acquisition of Viridian plc, a $4.2 billion electricity company based in Northern Ireland.