Kuwait Finance House to elect new chairman

Kuwait Finance House (KFH), the second-largest Gulf Islamic lender, will elect a new chairman Tuesday after the resignation of Bader al-Mukhaizeem from the role, a local newspaper said on Tuesday.

Arabic paper al-Qabas said KFH's board is expected to elect Samir al-Nafisi as the new chairman and Nabil al-Manie as the vice chairman, after the shareholders elected a new board during its annual general meeting on Monday.

Al-Mukhaizeem said during the AGM that the bank is planning to successfully exit businesses in Saudi Arabia.

On Tuesday, Baitek Real Estate Company, a Kuwait Finance House unit in Saudi Arabia, exited several real estate investments worth 196 million riyals ($52.27 million), the company said in a statement to the bourse.

"The exits achieved a return of about 91 million riyals, which are expected to appear in KFH's accumulated financial results for the first-quarter of 2011," the statement said.

Al-Mukhaizeem added that the bank is currently considering entering markets in France.

"France is now open to financial Islamic operations and there are inquiries that we are currently studying."

In February, KFH missed analysts forecasts as it posted a 29.2 per cent drop in its fourth-quarter profits compared to the same period last year.

The lender made 8.7 million dinars ($31.29 million) in the three months Dec. 31 compared with 12.3 million dinars in 2009, according to Reuters calculation.