Khaled Fouad,
KAMCO’s Chief Investment Officer

KUWAIT CITY: KAMCO Investment Company, a leading investment management company with more than USD 11 billion in assets under management, and winner of World finance "Best Investment Management Company in Kuwait 2015 Award', was ranked among the top 15international lead managers and book runners in GCC and MENA Bonds, and the first in Kuwait according to Bloomberg's EMEA fixed income league tables for the first quarter of 2016.The rankings, based on actual funds raised during the first quarter of 2016, accounted for the total volume and market share of all transactions executed during the period.

Bloomberg's quarterly fixed income league tables ranked KAMCO as the tenth in the GCC and the thirteenth in the MENA region for managing the issuance of bonds and sukuks. KAMCO's total volume for all transactions executed during the first quarter reached a market share of 2.46% in GCC and 2.01% in MENA.

KAMCO's Chief Investment Officer, Mr Khaled Fouad, said, "This is yet another representation of KAMCO's prominent position in the local and regional market. We have strategically positioned ourselves in the market to become one of the preferred choices for the governmental and private sectors. We continue to build on the trust extended by our clients and investors alike. We keep increasing our level of expertise and investment in our debt capital market franchise reaffirming our position as a strong market leader."

"Our Investment Banking and Wealth Management teams played key roles in successfully executing each transaction during the first quarter of 2016. On behalf of KAMCO, we would like to recognize each team's level of commitment and persistence, as evinced by Bloomberg's EMEA fixed income league tables. We, as KAMCO, will continue to seek various opportunities to attract local and regional investors to support the local bond market and economy as a whole," added Mr. Fouad.

Mr Omar Zaineddine, Senior Vice President and head of the Investment Banking department at KAMCO, emphasized that the department will spare no effort to ensure that all parties involved are satisfied. He also highlighted the advantages of bond issuances towards the local and regional economy, stimulating domestic and foreign investment. During the fourth quarter of 2015 and the 1st quarter of 2016, he mentioned that KAMCO partook in three pivotal issuances with some of the largest local and regional banks, which included the National Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait Finance House, and Burgan Bank. Mr Zaineddine also stated that in collaboration with the Wealth Management team at KAMCO, the investment firm is expecting in the future to become more involved in both the governmental and private sector issuances.

According to Bloomberg's rankings, it is worth mentioning that the National Bank of Abu Dhabi was placed first in terms of the total transactions market share in the GCC. HSBC Bank followed in second place, JP Morgan in third, BNP Paribas came in fourth with Citi Bank, Bank ABC sixth, Emirates NBD PJSC seventh, Sharjah Islamic Bank and Dubai Islamic Bank eighth.

Bloomberg's ranking based on the MENA region placed the National Bank of Abu Dhabi at the top of the list during the first quarter of 2016. Morgan Stanley came in second, HSBC Bank third, JP Morgan ranked fourth, Citi Bank came in fifth, BNP Paribas sixth, Emirates NBD PJSC seventh, Societe General eighth, Bank ABC ninth, Sharjah and Islamic Bank and Dubai Islamic Bank both placed in tenth, followed by Nomura in twelfth.

During the first quarter of2016, KAMCO acted as one of the Joint Lead Managers for the Burgan Bank KSCP's KWD 100 million, subordinated Tier 2, Basel III - compliant bonds. KAMCO was also one of the lead managers in Kuveyt Turk's Tier 2 capital-boosting sukuk worth USD 350 million issuance.

Bloomberg's corporate bond database consists of more than 1.9 million active securities - including convertible bonds and preferred securities - along with more than 4.1 million matured, called or retired bonds, covering over 24,000 unique issuers across more than 130 countries and 100 different currencies.