| Global cuts pay, staff in debt default squeeze |
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 1, (RTRS): Two of Kuwait’s biggest investment firms, Global Investment House and Investment Dar , are laying off staff or cutting wages to lower costs due to the global slowdown, company officials said on Sunday. Global laid off around 40 employees on Wednesday, and reduced salaries by up to 20 percent, a company official told Reuters on Sunday. Global has said it had over 600 employees. Islamic firm Investment Dar, which owns half of British luxury carmaker Aston Martin, has cut salaries by 5 to 20 percent, according to an internal memo obtained by Reuters.
A Dar official declined to say how many were affected by the pay cut, but said the firm had no plans now to fire staff. The company has more than 450 staff, according to its website. Global, has said it had defaulted on most of its debt but is in Talks with its creditors, while Investment Dar said it was seeking up to $1 billion in loans. Investment firms, which make up roughly half of Kuwait’s listed companies, have been urging the government and banks to provide them with fresh loans to bridge short-term funding gaps with some of them mulling assets sales to get cash. The woes of Global and Dar came as a blow to the country’s efforts to restore confidence among investors after it guaranteed deposits at banks last year and rescued its fourth-largest lender, Gulf Bank.
|
| Posted on:
02/02/2009 |
|
|
|
