Press Release
Global Investment House, Dubai Islamic Bank, and Millennium Capital to seed US$500 million
Islamic buyout fund
Shailesh Dash: “Fund sponsor Global has strong track record in private equity in the region”
Omar Masrur: “Dubai Islamic Bank and Millennium Capital are leading Islamic financiers”
Kuwait –11/June/2008 – Global Investment House ("Global") and Dubai Islamic Bank (“DIB”)
announced today the approval of their US$500 million Islamic Buyout Fund by the Central Bank of
Bahrain. The Fund will provide investors access to Shari’a-compliant private equity investments, a
largely untapped asset class across the region. As seed investors, Global, DIB and Millennium Capital
will be contributing 13% of the Fund’s capital. Global will be the Investment Manager to the Fund,
while Millennium Capital will act as Investment Advisor.
The Fund has been set up as a parallel Shari’a-compliant investment vehicle to the “Global Buyout Fund
L.P.”, a US$615 million conventional private equity fund that was closed earlier this year and is managed
by Global. In 2007 the media foundation “Terrapinn” awarded the Global Buyout Fund the title “Fund
of the Year” in recognition of Global’s role in the development of the regional capital market.
The Islamic Buyout Fund intends to acquire controlling positions together with the existing Global
Buyout Fund or independently in Shari’a-compliant buyout opportunities in the Middle East and North
Africa (incl. Turkey), South and South East Asia regions.
The Fund will target to achieve a net IRR of 20% p.a. by investing in portfolio companies where the
Investment Manager and the Investment Advisor perceive the opportunity to add value through active
support of portfolio companies’ management and operations. Upon every successful exit from a
portfolio company throughout the fund life of seven years, profits will be distributed to investors.
Shailesh Dash, CFA - Head of Alternative Investments at Global, said, “Global has a strong track
record in private equity investments while Dubai Islamic Bank and Millennium Capital are pioneers in
Islamic finance and bring in-depth expertise in structuring and executing Shari’a-compliant transactions.
The seed investors combine a vast regional and international network of institutional and high net worth
investors and have access to a continuous flow of deals through their existing relationships, which is
vital to realize and exceed investors’ return expectations on a risk-adjusted basis.”
Furthermore, Dash emphasized that “private equity provides the opportunity to invest in a largely
untapped asset class in the MENA region. Private equity in general and Islamic private equity in
particular are still in their early stages and are poised to capitalize on the ample liquidity and increasing
wealth of investment opportunities in the region.”
Omar Masrur, Head of Private Equity at Millennium Capital, said, “In addition to Global’s deal
execution capability, the Fund will have access to DIB’s extensive network of medium to large-sized
businesses and affiliates as an additional source of Shari’a compliant deal flow. We believe the Islamic
Buyout Fund is a unique program for private equity investors in the region to benefit from the
complementary strengths of two of MENA’s best names, Global and DIB.”
Global currently manages more than US$2.2 billion invested in alternative assets, including private
equity. Of the US$1.6 billion assets under management in private equity, US$1 billion has been invested
in 46 companies, yielding a net IRR of 55.82% as of December 31, 2007.
Dubai Islamic Bank is the one of the largest Islamic banks in the world. It is listed on the Dubai
Financial Market and in 2007 its revenues and net profit stood at US$1.9 billion and US$680 million,
respectively. DIB has built a strong track record in making proprietary investments. Tamweel and Dubai
Islamic Insurance are just some of its highly successful investments that have been listed on public stock
exchanges.
Dash concluded, “The seed investors will bring more than 400 man years of investment experience to
the Fund, ensuring high deal flow, an efficient and diligent investment process, strong expertise in
transaction structuring, execution and post-acquisition management as well as optimum exit strategies
and timing in order to achieve maximum risk-adjusted returns.”
-END-
About Global Investment House “Global”
Global Investment House “Global” is a full-fledged investment company incorporated in 1998, and
falls under the regulation of the Central Bank of Kuwait. Its underlying foundation is to meet the high
expectations of local and international clients, and to enhance the investment service industry and the
capital market in Kuwait and the region. Today, Global stock lists on the Kuwait, Bahrain, and Dubai
Stock Exchanges. Global plays an important role in promoting investment opportunities in the MENA
region to investors through expert financial engineering, in-depth research and reports to advance the
capital market in the region. Thus, Global’s achievements have been recognized on local, regional, and
international levels. The company’s current assets under management reached KD2.5 billion (USD 9.3
billion) by 31 March 2008.
For more information, please visit our website on www.globalinv.net
Media Relations Contacts
Safa'a Al-Matari
Senior Media Relations Executive
E-mail: salmatari@global.com.kw
Tel: (965) 2951626
Fax: (965) 2951626
Dalal A. Al-Radi
Senior Media Relations Executive
E-mail: dalradi@global.com.kw
Tel: (965) 2951623
Fax: (965) 2951623