Bahrain Middle East Bank fully repays USD 13mn debt.

By bne IntelliNews March 19, 2013
Bahrain Middle East Bank made a USD 13mn full repayment of a loan obligation including a USD 1.4mn interest payment taking total repayments by the troubled lender to USD 43mn, the bank said in a bourse filling. The loan was originally incurred in 2003/2004 and later rescheduled as part of the bank's restructuring process which started in 2009. According to the bank's CEO, Akbar Habib, the USD 13mn loan repayment marks a turning point for the bank with all residuals from the period prior to the restructuring process had been neutralised enabling the bank to conclude phase I of the bank's restructuring process. He added that financial obligations are currently 90% lower and cost efficiencies are 50% higher than prior to the commencement of the bank's restructuring process. As a result, the bank made a USD 20mn combined saving for the period since the beginning of the restructuring process. The overall improvement in the bank's balance sheet prompted ratings agency Fitch to revise the bank's outlook to positive.

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