Debt structures may spell trouble for Global

Global Investment House, one of the best-known investment banks in the Middle East, has drawn millions of dollars of financing from an investment company subsidiary through so-called murabaha, an Islamic debt structure.

But investors have raised concerns over how the financing has been managed.

Global MENA Financial Assets , a London Stock Exchange-listed investment company owned 29.99 per cent by Global and managed by Global’s private equity team, has entered into a $47.8m murabaha with its parent company and $59.1m of murabaha with two unnamed Kuwaiti companies that are also struggling to repay debts, the company said in January.