Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank Gulf Finance House is looking for acquisitions this year as the economic crisis has put valuations of potential targets under pressure, an executive said on Sunday.

'In the year ahead we anticipate an opportunistic stance to capitalize on undervalued assets throughout the region,' GFH deputy chief executive Mehran Jamsheer said in a statement, without elaborating.

Jamsheer made the comment in a statement released by the bank in response to a recent downgrade of its ratings outlook to negative from stable by Standard & Poor's. The ratings agency confirmed its BBB-/A-3 on the bank.

Gulf Finance House last week said it lost $10 million during the last quarter of 2008, as it booked provisions on its investments. It posted a net profit of $291 million for the full year.-Reuters