The National Investor's (TNI) private equity arm and Kipco Asset Management Company (Kamco) plan to set up a $150 million (Dh550m) Islamic fund, in a sign that private equity activity in the Gulf is picking up.
The Shariah-compliant fund is to be launched within three months and will make six to seven investments with an average equity of $25m each in mid-size, family-owned companies.
"The market opportunity really lies in family businesses in the region who may have entered into too many disparate business lines and now feel they need to pick and choose and are looking into divestitures," said Yahya Jalil, Director of private equity at The National Investor.
"That creates opportunities for us," he said.
The fund targets companies that have fallen upon financial difficulties or that are in need of operational restructuring, said Jalil.
Private equity activity in the Middle East, like elsewhere globally, has fallen sharply since the beginning of the financial crisis, as it became more difficult for firms to obtain debt financing from the banking sector.
But analysts expect the sector to recover as credit markets are gradually opening up again and governments across the region have pledged to invest billions in healthcare, infrastructure and transport sectors.
TNI and Kamco will each contribute $15m to the fund, while the remaining $120m will come from third party investors. The target return for the investments is 30 per cent.
The reason for setting up a shariah-compliant fund is that "an Islamic structure can bring them [these companies] back into more modest debt ratios sustainable over the long run," Jalil said.
"The use of Islamic financing to supplement the equity tickets we write can potentially increase the investment firepower by 30 to 40 per cent," Jalil said.
"We will have the mandate to either take a minority stake, or where appropriate, a controlling stake in such mid-market firms," he said. TNI is an Abu Dhabi-based investment company active in investment banking, asset management, real estate and private equity.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
$150m Islamic fund planned
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
How you can manage your finance
What Causes Your Financial Issues?
When you have financial issues, you need to look for the cause of the problem. Look at the why behind your current financial issues. Do you have a problem with instant gratification? Does shopping therapy get you through when you are feeling stressed? Do you neglect to keep track of your spending? Are you disregarding a budget? Do you feel pressure to keep up a certain lifestyle?
Without addressing these underlying issues, you won’t make changes to your personal finance behaviors. You have to first acknowledge that there is a problem with the way you have been doing things.
Then you need to take steps to correct the habits and attitudes that got you here in the first place. It’s about making a lifestyle and financial change. You may need some sort of professional help, whether from a financial planner or even from a counselor if you are worried about the psychological underpinnings of your financial problems.
In the end, you need to take an honest look at yourself and how you feel about money, and the reasons that you spend it the way you do. When you can do this, you can begin rectifying the problem.
facts you need to know about finance
here's the general of finance
Finance is the science of funds management. The general areas of finance are business finance, personal finance, and public finance.Finance includes saving money and often includes lending money. The field of finance deals with the concepts of time, money and risk and how they are interrelated. It also deals with how money is spent and budgeted.
Finance works most basically through individuals and business organizations depositing money in a bank. The bank then lends the money out to other individuals or corporations for consumption or investment, and charges interest on the loans.
Loans have become increasingly packaged for resale, meaning that an investor buys the loan (debt) from a bank or directly from a corporation. Bonds are debt sold directly to investors from corporations, while that investor can then hold the debt and collect the interest or sell the debt on a secondary market. Banks are the main facilitators of funding through the provision of credit, although private equity, mutual funds, hedge funds, and other organizations have become important as they invest in various forms of debt. Financial assets, known as investments, are financially managed with careful attention to financial risk management to control financial risk. Financial instruments allow many forms of securitized assets to be traded on securities exchanges such as stock exchanges, including debt such as bonds as well as equity in publicly-traded corporations.[dubious – discuss]
Central banks act as lenders of last resort and control the money supply, which affects the interest rates charged. As money supply increases, interest rates decrease.