Preferred asset management and investment banking provider in the region

Throughout the last 20 years, KAMCO has built a foundation of unwavering support for its valued clients combined with a passion towards finding unique and innovative ways to suit their needs

KAMCO Investment Company, a leading investment company with one of the largest assets under management ("AUM") in the region, officially celebrates its 20th year anniversary during the month of September. Over the past two decades, KAMCO has been dedicated towards enhancing and building upon its innovative investment strategy with a wide offering of quality investment products and full-fledged services.

Throughout the last 20 years, KAMCO has built a foundation of unwavering support for its valued clients combined with a passion towards finding unique and innovative ways to suit their needs. The firm has always been willing to explore new opportunities to better serve its clients, and this has allowed KAMCO to grow and expand its offerings as well as geographical reach.

A look into KAMCO's journey

KAMCO Investment Company, formerly known as "KIPCO Asset Management Company", was established during September 1998 as a member of the KIPCO Group. In 2003, the investment firm sought all necessary requirements to become a publicly traded company on the Kuwait Stock Exchange, which is now Boursa Kuwait.

One year after its listing, the firm launched the KAMCO Investment Fund ("KIF"), an equity-based fund that mainly trades in Kuwaiti listed securities. KIF was recently ranked the top performing equity fund in Kuwait and the region in 2017. One of several significant milestones in the firm's standard-setting and result-driven investment solutions.

First bond issue

During the same year KIF was launched, 2004, KAMCO diversified its funding base by issuing its first bond in the amount of KD 20 million. The issue was fully subscribed by investors with a 'BBB' investment grade credit rating by Capital Intelligence Ltd. In 2018, KAMCO issued its second bond for KD 40 million with a 'BBB' long-term and 'A3' short-term investment grade credit rating by Capital Intelligence that was also well received by investors. The strong oversubscription witnessed by investors was covered in a period of 3 days, the shortest subscription period for a KD denominated bond ever.

Thought leadership

In 2005, KAMCO emerged as one of the largest private sector mangers of financial assets in the Middle East. The firm also extended its research coverage to include all GCC stock exchanges. Last year, KAMCO won the "Best Investment Research Company - 2017" award for maintaining its thought leadership position as one of the premier investment research houses in the GCC with its published reports and industry experts frequently quoted in the media.

Further building upon its achieved milestones, in 2007 KAMCO undertook the single largest private sector mergers and acquisitions transaction for KIPCO by selling a majority stake in Wataniya Telecom to Qatar's Q-Tel. The successful outcome of the transaction marked another step towards enhancing and strengthening the local and regional economy.

Investing in education

Concentrated on providing diverse investment solutions to its clients, KAMCO launched its Kuwait Education Fund ("KEF") in 2007 which promoted educational initiatives in Kuwait by supporting entrepreneurs, backed by a conservative investment philosophy.

Identified as a key area for future investment, KAMCO also took the role of managing the National Investment Fund Portfolio ("NIFP"), known as Shariky Fund in 2007. The fund specialized to invest in small business ventures in Kuwait and was managed on behalf of the Kuwait Investment Authority ("KIA").

Today, KAMCO actively participates in various initiatives to strengthen the local education system. The investment firm is a frequent supporter of CFA Society Kuwait's charter award ceremony, the American University of Kuwait career fairs, Tmkeen awards, the Proteges, and other educational programs that fall in line with KAMCO's corporate social responsibility initiative to contribute towards society.

A decade operating in the investment sector

Driven by its prudent investment philosophy, innovative financial solutions, and the latest market research tools, KAMCO rapidly gained recognition in the regional and international financial markets. During this phase in its journey, KAMCO overcame exciting challenges and achieved new accomplishments that helped pave the way towards its mission of becoming the preferred asset management and investment banking provider in the region.

Stability

In 2008, unprecedented global economic and trading conditions resulted in a business world that has never been more difficult to predict. During this period, KAMCO responded to exceptionally unstable market conditions through strategies designed to protect its clients and the firm's position, as well as create a foundation for future growth. 2008 also marked KAMCO's 10-year anniversary in which the firm announced its new corporate identity with a vision to contribute towards the transformation and development of the local and regional investment scene.

Despite fluctuating market conditions, KAMCO maintained its strong position in a very volatile financial environment and emerged as one of the few investment companies to report an annual profit for 2008. In 2009, KAMCO was appointed as the exclusive investment adviser for KIPCO's KD 100 million acquisition program earmarked to restructure or purchase assets of private-sector Kuwaiti companies with strong growth potential.

While KAMCO continued to achieve significant milestones throughout its journey, in 2012 the firm successfully executed several notable and key advisory transactions in financial restructurings for its clients. As a lead manager during this period, KAMCO successfully completed three major corporate bond issue, raising KD 206.5 million from investors, including completion of the largest size and longest tenure corporate bond issue in Kuwait's history up until December 2012.

Growing leadership

Focusing on increasing its operational income, KAMCO entered a new growth trajectory with numerous initiatives in 2013 to grow its investment products and client focused services. Having celebrated its 15th year since inception in 2013, KAMCO continued to grow its leadership position in the market as one of the largest asset managers in the region. KAMCO's managed funds and portfolios achieved superior returns in comparison to their benchmarks, placing the firm as one of the top performing firms in Kuwait.

The following year, due to its diligence to conform to CMA regulation, KAMCO was one of the first four companies to gain an official license for various investment products. During the first half of 2014, KAMCO launched the Kuwait Real Estate Yield Fund ("KREYF"), the first local fund in Kuwait to receive CMA approval for fund raising, which focused on building the initial investment portfolio to create adequate yield. In addition to that, for its solid performance in the asset management field during the year, KAMCO won the prestigious 'Best GCC Asset Management Company - 2014' award from World Finance.

In 2015, KAMCO abided by its sustainable investment strategy and searched for opportunities during a time of economic and geo-political instabilities witnessed throughout the year. Despite uncertain market conditions, KAMCO successfully managed the first Subordinated Tier 2 bond issue with a 'Baa1' long-term investment grade by Moody's credit rating system.

KAMCO expands its geographical footprint

To further expand its offerings throughout the region, KAMCO sought after all regulatory requirements to obtain its license in 2016 to open the doors to its first international office in the Dubai International Financial Centre ("DIFC"). With international and regional exposure, KAMCO's DIFC office would serve as an alternative platform to provide the firm and its clients with new opportunities for development and growth on a regional and international scale.

Global exposure

After years of operating in the local, regional and international markets, KAMCO continued to grow its international operations through increased global exposure. KAMCO has been actively building upon its core competencies to offer MENA-wide investment management consultancy and services. The firm successfully completed two international real estate deals, increasing the AUM size of its international real estate portfolio to $263 million as of 31 December 2017. KAMCO also completed 3 major investment banking transactions during the same period that amounted to over $1 billion.

International recognition

Over the years, KAMCO has been internationally recognized for its performance, investment philosophy and team of highly skilled investment experts. KAMCO won 9 awards from international industry experts in 2017 within the fields of asset management, investment banking, alternative investments, wealth management, and investment research.

KAMCO today

With its reputation well-known throughout the local and regional markets, KAMCO continues to implement its strategic investment philosophy, backed by its industry experts and research-driven approach. Humbled by the trust and confidence of its valued clients, KAMCO managed to increase its AUM to over $10.2 billion (as of 30 June 2018) and achieves a strong track record of 98 successful investment banking transaction worth around $15.8 billion (as of 30 June 2018).

Throughout this year, KAMCO's funds and portfolios under management have performed well in the market and the firm will continue to enhance them to outperform their benchmarks. KAMCO also acted as joint lead managers in three key transactions during 2018, including the firm's KD 40 million bond issue with the shortest subscription period for a KD denominated bond.

KAMCO also recently announced that it has signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement ("SPA") with NCH Ventures S.P.C ("NCH") to purchase a 69.528% majority stake in Global Investment House ("Global").

Services and offerings

1. Portfolio Management Services

2. Mutual Funds

3. Securities Trading & Management

4. Investment Advisory

5. Alternative Instruments/Derivatives

6. IPOs

7. Non-Discretionary Portfolio Services

8. Discretionary Portfolio Management

9. Financial Advisory

10. Trade Execution

Managing wealth

Throughout the decades, these moments have been a turning point in KAMCO's progression, establishing the company as a premier asset management and investment banking company in Kuwait and the region. Those milestones have all been a culmination of its Wealth Management Team's business acumen, it's innovative and ambitious investment banking track-record and detail-oriented asset management backed-up by market intelligence, to name a few.

Building relationships throughout the decades

KAMCO offers a wide range of portfolio management solutions with robust execution capabilities that suit every investor's risk appetite. When managing wealth, KAMCO's Wealth Management Team consistently focus on providing the best strategic guidance and quality advice, which in return has helped build long and lasting relationships with valued Clients. That, coupled with the team's highly skilled wealth managers, remains the center of KAMCO's strong performance. The team's strength lies in understanding the unique needs of investors-whether individuals, families, or institutions. By offering tailor-made integrated investment solutions, KAMCO seeks to provide strategic guidance to protect, grow and seamlessly manage each client's wealth. The firm's offerings include product customization, strategic wealth planning, research-based solutions, monthly portfolio reporting, client support in international third-party investments and more. KAMCO's Wealth Management services are based on an extensive risk management framework, evidence based financial advice, and access to KAMCO's vast resources.

For KAMCO, building and maintaining a close relationship with clients and stakeholders remains at the core of its operations. The company's mission of delivering upon the financial needs of its clients in the most seamless approach is perhaps the main ingredient in their recipe for success. Building upon their approach, the firm perceives every client as a financial partner for life, today and for generations to come.

Added-value assets

Within its MENA and International Asset Management Departments, KAMCO follows an operational strategy when it comes to managing various assets. The firm focuses on delivering an added-value that differentiates it from its competitors in the local and regional markets.

Throughout the years, KAMCO's Asset Management strategy has been noticed in their successful reactions to trends in the markets which yielded positive results across the board. As a reflection of this strategy, most of KAMCO's funds under management have performed well in the market and outperformed their benchmarks. A strong performance was also evident in executing positive returns for discretionary portfolios, with all mandates outperforming benchmarks and all GCC indices, as of recent. Their advisory services followed lead, qualifying KAMCO as a manager of GCC equity mandates.

With success, came further growth as KAMCO expanded its array of expertise spanning alternative investment solutions in real estate and fixed income. Along with the latter, KAMCO offers a wide spectrum of private equity deals in various regional and global sectors including telecom, technology, real estate, healthcare and traditional service companies.

Banking on opportunities

The fundamentals of KAMCO's investment banking platform lies on the back of reliable investment coverage, innovative solutions, and a suite of local, regional, and global capabilities. Throughout a range of their advisory services, their recent international real-estate transactions as well as regional and international expertise in equity capital markets and debt capital markets, KAMCO has been seen to implement the highest standards of execution in capital and deal flows management, making complex finance structures appear seamless and sustainable, regardless of the scale and complexity of the transactions.

An eye for insight

Well-renowned for its market intelligence, KAMCO's published financial analyses and insightful outlook reports are frequently cited by the local and international media agencies. Using an unbiased outlook, KAMCO's Research Team leverages real time access to industry and corporate developments combined with economic facts and statistics to provide investors with timely and actionable reports that will assist them in making informed and proactive investment decisions. KAMCO's research reports are a key contributor in conceiving the firm's innovative, integrated and research-driven investment solutions that are targeted towards capitalizing on current market trends.

A responsibility towards corporate citizenship

Alongside a business and operational focus, KAMCO has been hard at work in maintaining a close link between its business, its workforce and the wider community. As such, the market has observed KAMCO's participation and effort towards the community at which it exists, specifically during events and causes that were of significance to the national economy and the industry. KAMCO's presence and support to socially addressing challenges such as the development of local human capital have been noted through initiatives that are centered on empowering the youth, education, entrepreneurship, career development and the overall wellbeing of our society.