Bahrain-based The International Banking Corporation (TIBC), owned by prominent Saudi conglomerate Al Gosaibi, has asked its creditors for a standstill period, a local newspaper reported on Thursday.The Gulf Daily News cited a statement from TIBC’s parent company Ahmad Hamad Al Gosaibi & Brothers Company (AHAB) as saying the standstill period was requested to allow TIBC and its advisors more time to analyse its situation.
It said AHAB had significantly scaled back operations at its financial divisions while the situation is assessed.
TIBC, which had assets of $3.8 billion at year-end, was downgraded to selective default by ratings agency S&P last month, and Bahrain’s central bank consequently urged the bank’s creditors to meet.
A spokesman for TIBC referred media inquiries to its parent company Al Gosaibi Group, whose headquarters could not be reached for comment on Thursday, a holiday in Saudi Arabia.
There has been much speculation about the relationship between AHAB and prominent Saudi businessman Mana Al-Sanea, whose Saad Group is undergoing debt restructuring and has been downgraded to default status by ratings agency Moody’s.
Al-Sanea is married to a niece of recently deceased AHAB chairman Sulaiman Hamad Al-Gosaibi and previously was a shareholder in TIBC.
Saad Group has said that Al-Sanea has no ownership interest in AHAB and that the two groups have only arms-length commercial ties. (Reuters)
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