Sulaiman M Al-Shaheen Al-Rubaie

KUWAIT: Global Investment House (Global), a regional asset management and investment banking firm headquartered in Kuwait with offices in major capital markets in the MENA region, announced yesterday that its alternative asset management arm, Global Capital Management (GCM), has distributed $32million to its clients investing in its private equity fund, Global MENA Financial Assets Limited (GMFA).

The distributed amount, which represents around 14 percent of the Fund's current Net Asset Value (NAV), is the result of successful exits from two portfolio companies, effectively managed and operationally transformed by the Private Equity Asset Management team of Global along with other shareholders of the portfolio companies. The first exit is from Asian Finance Bank, a boutique corporate bank in Malaysia and the second from Bindar Trading and Investment a leading consumer finance company in Jordan.

Sulaiman Al-Rubaie, Deputy CEO of Global and Managing Partner of GCM commented: "We continue to deliver our commitments to our clients. These distributions come at challenging times for the regional capital markets witnessing low liquidity and challenging business environment. We had put in tremendous efforts to build the value in these assets by working closely with the management and other shareholders. We are proud that the private equity funds managed by Global have been consistent in value creation and portfolio exits, which pave a way for constant cash distributions to our clients since inception."

Zakir H Rizvi, Partner at GCM commented: "Through an effective involvement and value creation strategies, we were able to grow the portfolio companies and improve operational profitability. Both portfolio exits were executed at competitive multiples, thanks to the value creation, right timing, and effective exit strategies pursued by the GCM team."

With this distribution, the total amount distributed to clients investing in GMFA reached $141 million and total amount distributed by the private equity asset management team reached $612 million to funds' investors since inception. Private Equity funds managed by Global have undergone a successful operational turnaround in many of their key investments which had put most of the portfolio companies back on positive growth trajectory. The Private Equity Team of Global has managed 45 exits since inception and 34 exits since 2009.

It is worth noting that Global MENA Financial Assets Limited "GMFA" is a Guernsey incorporated fund offering attractive absolute gains through investment in a diversified portfolio of financial and non-financial sector assets, focused predominantly in the MENA Region including Turkey.