Kuwait Finance House / First Industrial Sale of Prime Industrial Fund's Assets
September 21 st 2004 - Kuwait Finance House, KSC ("KFH") today announced the sale of 100% of the assets in the Prime Industrial Properties Fund (the "Fund"), an investment vehicle majority owned by KFH and its investor clients in partnership with First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. The portfolio, acquired by the Fund between December of 2001 and December of 2003, consisted of 36 industrial properties, most of which had been recently developed, located in major industrial markets throughout the United States.
"We are very pleased to have successfully completed one of the largest industrial portfolio sales in the U.S. this year," said Anwar Al-Bader, Deputy AGM Investment Sector for Kuwait Finance House. "This sale, along with the returns earned on the portfolio to date, represents an outstanding return on investment to our investor clients. We have been very pleased with the success of our first partnership with First Industrial and we look forward to similar mutual success in our second Fund which acquires net leased industrial properties throughout the U.S. "
"We are very excited about the successful completion of the sale of the Prime Industrial Properties Fund's assets," said Mike Brennan, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Industrial. "Kuwait Finance House and its clients have proved to be extraordinary partners and we too look forward to building our relationship with KFH through continuing the successful acquisition program already in place for our second Fund."
Arch Street Capital Advisors, L.L.C, a Greenwich , Connecticut based real estate asset management and advisory firm, served as asset manager and advisor to KFH in connection with the Prime Industrial Properties Fund.
About KFH:
Kuwait Finance House is a publicly traded Kuwait-based financial institution with over $11.5 billion in assets and a global investor with real estate holdings in the U.S. , Europe and the Middle East.
The successful experience of KFH and its pioneering effort in Islamic financing since its inception in 1977 facilitated KFH to be considered the leader in Islamic Banking in Kuwait and the second largest bank in Kuwait in terms of assets and market capitalization. KFH has built up a strong brand franchise in consumer banking through its 31 branches located in Kuwait . KFH controls relatively large subsidiaries in Bahrain , Turkey and The United Arab Emirates, and is about to commence operations in Malaysia . KFH has strong affiliations with leading international institutions, and successfully launched a number of products in alliance with major global banks in the past. KFH holds an investment credit rating of 'A2' by Moody's, 'A-' by Fitch, and 'A-' by Standard and Poor's rating agencies. KFH is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) under the symbol KFIN.
About First Industrial:
First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc., the nation's largest provider of diversified industrial real estate, serves every aspect of Corporate America's industrial real estate needs, including customized supply chain solutions, through its unique I-N-D-L strategy, which utilizes a pure Industrial focus and National platform to provide Diverse facility types, while offering Local, full-service management and expertise. Building, buying, selling, leasing and managing industrial property in major markets nationwide, First Industrial develops long term relationships with corporate real estate directors, tenants and brokers to better serve customers with creative, flexible industrial real estate solutions.