Bahrain-based Gulf One Investment Bank said it had advised and arranged a $23.5 million Islamic debt refinancing transaction for the Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST), the largest private sector university in Kuwait.

The transaction was successfully closed in early 2012 with Kuwait International Bank (KIB) as the sole lender.

Gulf One said the deal, which was the first-of-its-type for the Kuwait education sector, is expected to provide a template for similar refinancing and restructuring deals.

Gulf One combined its regional network, leading structuring skills and extensive debt arrangement experience to deliver multiple benefits for GUST including a more favorable profit rate, longer tenor and better security structure, said the bank in a statement.

The role of independent advisory has always been vital in facilitating the speed and quantum of project execution; the key to success is taking a balanced approach that takes into consideration both the debtor and the obligor, it added.-TradeArabia News Service