Leeds United owner GFH Capital offloads half of its shares
Guardian 15/8/13
GFH Capital, a subsidiary of Bahraini Gulf Finance House, offloaded a 10% stake to the Bahrain-based International Investment Bank earlier this year and its second-quarter financial statement showed it had now sold a total of more than half the shares.
The statement did not say who the buyer was, specifying only that it had made a gain of $776,000 (£500,000) on the sale and was now deconsolidating Leeds results from its own. GFH could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
The company paid £52m last year to buy Leeds from their previous owner Ken Bates, who has since left the club.
The club's website lists shareholders of Grand Cayman-based LUFC Holding Limited – owner of Leeds City Holdings Limited, which in turn owns the club – as GFH Capital, International Investment Bank and Envest Limited. Envest is owned by Salah Nooruddin, who replaced Bates as chairman, and his wife.
GFH, which had already booked a $10.4m profit on the Leeds deal in its 2012 financial statement, said in April it had offers from several investors for stakes in the club.
The company has been forced into a number of debt restructurings as well as a major overhaul of its business model since 2010 as it struggled in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
It made a profit of $4.2m in the first half of the year, its financial statements showing that this was mainly possible because of a $52m gain from converting a type of Islamic financing security into shares. On an operating level, the group lost $13m, the cash flow statement shows, while the balance sheet reports accumulated losses since establishment of $379m.
- Dubai-based company makes £500,000 profit
- GFH has owned company for only six months
GFH Capital, a subsidiary of Bahraini Gulf Finance House, offloaded a 10% stake to the Bahrain-based International Investment Bank earlier this year and its second-quarter financial statement showed it had now sold a total of more than half the shares.
The statement did not say who the buyer was, specifying only that it had made a gain of $776,000 (£500,000) on the sale and was now deconsolidating Leeds results from its own. GFH could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
The company paid £52m last year to buy Leeds from their previous owner Ken Bates, who has since left the club.
The club's website lists shareholders of Grand Cayman-based LUFC Holding Limited – owner of Leeds City Holdings Limited, which in turn owns the club – as GFH Capital, International Investment Bank and Envest Limited. Envest is owned by Salah Nooruddin, who replaced Bates as chairman, and his wife.
GFH, which had already booked a $10.4m profit on the Leeds deal in its 2012 financial statement, said in April it had offers from several investors for stakes in the club.
The company has been forced into a number of debt restructurings as well as a major overhaul of its business model since 2010 as it struggled in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
It made a profit of $4.2m in the first half of the year, its financial statements showing that this was mainly possible because of a $52m gain from converting a type of Islamic financing security into shares. On an operating level, the group lost $13m, the cash flow statement shows, while the balance sheet reports accumulated losses since establishment of $379m.
