New-York based Global Finance magazine has recently named Gulf International Bank (GIB) as the “Best Project Finance Bank in 2005 in the Middle East and Africa.”
Global Finance announced in its November issue the world’s best project finance banks, covering institutions that stand out in global and regional markets. The awards include the top global bank and the top banks active in four global sectors and seven world regions, including the Middle East and Africa.
The magazine has based its selection of the winning banks on a wide range of subjective and objective criteria, including innovation in financing techniques, market position, project size and complexity, strength of project finance teams, geographic dispersion and opinions of analysts, lawyers and bankers involved in the industry.
Dr. Khaled M. Al-Fayez, GIB’s Chief Executive Officer, commented: “For a number of years, GIB has been the Middle East’s primary provider of project and structured finance services. GIB’s expertise encompasses underwriting and arranging limited-recourse term financing, in addition to a complete range of debt finance products such as syndicated debt finance, Islamic finance and export credit agencies.”
He added: “GIB is proud to be a significant contributor to the economic development of the region. It has been playing a pivotal role in arranging, underwriting and lead-managing major transactions in the oil and gas, electric power generation, petrochemical and manufacturing sectors across the GCC.”
GIB has been at the top of the Middle East’s regional project finance league tables for four consecutive years, as rated by trade publications such as Project Finance International, Euromoney and MEED, and by Dealogic ProjectWare, a UK-based global database covering project finance deals.
Earlier, the Bank was named by The Banker magazine last September as the “Bank of the Year 2005 in Bahrain” after conducting its annual survey of the best banks around the world. It was also named the “Best Bank in Bahrain” by Global Finance magazine in April.
Gulf International Bank is a leading merchant bank in the Middle East with its principal focus on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. It is the largest regional bank in the GCC, with more than $21 billion of its own assets and in excess of $16 billion of clients’ assets under management. With a proven track record spanning more than 28 years, GIB provides client-led, innovative financial products and services to a wide customer base in the region, including investment banking, asset management, project and structured finance and Islamic banking.
