GFH Financial suspends plan to delist from Kuwait bourse

Bahrain-based GFH Financial Group has suspended its decision to delist from the Kuwait Stock Exchange, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

The company, which held a board meeting on Tuesday, said the decision was based on “executive management's recommendations” and in view of “new amendments to the Implementing Regulation of (Kuwait’s) Capital Markets Authority.”

On Monday, the company had said the new amendments "have resolved many of the shortfalls of the preceding regulations on disclosure and transparency, including those which were conflicting with GFH's other regulators' requirements."

The company said the revised Kuwaiti regulations allow listed companies to postpone the disclosure of material information without obtaining the CMA's prior approval, if the information might damage the confidentiality of negotiations or implementation of a transaction.

GFH board had approved the move to voluntarily delist its shares from Kuwait Stock Exchange in September. The company had then said it aims to focus trading in its home market and on DFM where its shares are heavily traded.

It had also said the company wanted to protect itself from violating the Kuwait regulator’s rules that contradict regulations in its home market.

GFH provides Islamic finance solutions and invests in infrastructure and real estate projects.