Creditors Meeting Held For the International Banking Corp

Trowers & Hamlins, the international law firm appointed as external administrators of The International Banking Corporation B.S.C.(c) (TIBC), today held a meeting of TIBC creditors in Manama, Bahrain. The meeting was called to update creditors on the administrator's progress in clearly identifying TIBC's assets and its efforts to realise those assets on their behalf, to clarify the steps taken by the administrator so far and to set out the strategy of the administrator going forward. 
Trowers & Hamlins partner, Neale Downes said: "Having initially worked hard to bring TIBC under our management control, working closely with leading independent restructuring firm Zolfo Cooper, the critical issue facing the administration was to secure sufficient funding to be able to move the administration confidently into the next phase – namely asset recovery.  We achieved that goal through a commitment for funding from a group of our largest creditors in late 2009 and, subject to agreeing final terms with the lending creditors, we will have a solid platform from which to pursue claims against TIBC's key debtors going forward."
Abdullah Mutawi, another partner of Trowers & Hamlins also working on the administration, said of the meeting: “The meeting was very useful to provide a formal update on the administration's activities to TIBC's wider creditor group and to share with them the consensus approach to asset realisation that we have developed through dialogue with the lending-creditor group.   It was also important to clarify our role as administrators of TIBC.  Whilst it would not have been appropriate to comment on the widely published rumours of fraud or other potential irregularities pertaining to TIBC's operations under the control of its previous management and its shareholders, we were able to to let the creditors know that we do continue to work closely in cooperation with the relevant authorities regarding ongoing investigations into the affairs of TIBC.”