Kuwait Finance & Investment Company (KFIC) has completed a restructuring to partially deal with the KD158 million ($567.22 million) debt it had built up by the end of last year, its chief executive said in an interview.

The company suffered net losses of more than 75 per cent of its capital as a result of the global financial crisis, leading to a halt on trading of its shares.

Chief executive Abdulmoghni al-Abdulmoghni said that creditor banks and bondholders had participated in a KD50 million share issue. The take-up was 100 per cent, he said.

The company's existing shareholders had also taken up KD15 million worth of shares, he said in remarks for release on Thursday. The KD65 million will help the company fulfil its immediate debt obligations.

'Although the company lost its capital, it didn't ever fall behind on paying or servicing debt...this had a significant impact on persuading creditors to enter into the restructuring,' he said.

The company started talks with creditors in mid-2010. They included a total of 23 local and foreign banks and bondholders. – Reuters