Investment Dar extends talks on restructuring

Kuwait's Investment Dar, which owns 50 percent of car maker Aston Martin, on Tuesday announced it had extended the deadline for talks with banks and investors as part of its standstill agreement on restructuring the company.

As part of its efforts to treat all of its banks and investors fairly in its restructuring process, the troubled firm has extended the deadline by almost one month until November 12.

Dar defaulted on a $100 million Islamic debt issue in May and has said it may sell some assets to meet its obligations.

Last month, Kuwait's central bank appointed a temporary supervisor to monitor debt restructuring and compilation of financial results at Dar.

Trading in Dar's shares have been suspended since April 1, after the firm failed to submit its 2008 financial records on time. Dar had said that it was seeking to borrow up to $1 billion to refinance debt.

Adnan Al Musallam, chairman and chief executive officer, said: "We are making good progress in our efforts to restructure our business and we feel that it is only appropriate that we offer our banks and investors the necessary time to consider the Standstill Agreement. The extension will help in attaining our mutual objective of reaching a consensual restructuring plan expeditiously."

Mike Grant, chief restructuring officer at Investment Dar, who was appointed shortly after the standstill agreement was signed, added: "In the short time that I have been engaged with the company I can already see the commitment from the company, the coordinating committee and the advisers to conclude this highly complex restructuring promptly."

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