KIO bail-out

THE Kuwaiti Investment Office has decided to cut its losses after a disastrous foray into Spain. Lawyers and accountants from London have advised the KIO that it faces no option but to put Grupo Torras, its Spanish subsidiary, into liquidation following a dollars 4bn loss.

John Fordham, a partner from Stephenson Harwood, the KIO's London lawyers, said that the losses had arisen 'mainly because of mismanagement on a massive scale'.