Bahrain’s Mumtalakat grows revenues and assets in 2018

Fund made global and local investments totalling $181m in 2018

Mahmood Al Kooheji, chief executive of Bahrain's Mumtalakat, which reported a year-on-year drop in net profit for the full year 2018, but higher revenues. Razan Alzayani / The National

Mumtalakat, the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain, recorded a 38 per cent increase in revenues for 2018, following the 2017 consolidation of Formula One carmaker McLaren Group and higher sales at Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), one of its key assets.

Revenue increased to reach $5.5 billion for the financial year ending December 31, Mumtalakat said in a statement on Sunday. Share of profits from associates increased by 268 per cent to $147.9m, and the value of consolidated assets rose to $168 billion, the statement said.

“Mumtalakat’s investment strategy is linked to national economic diversification plans,” said Sheikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s deputy prime minister, and chairman of Mumtalakat. “The performance results indicate that capital expenditure in key local portfolio companies increased by 9 per cent in 2018, reaching $1.7bn.”

Mumtalakat’s share of profits from Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco) soared to $48.7m from $2.4m in the full year 2017, while share of profit from National Bank of Bahrain rose 15 per cent to $80.3m in 2018.

The sovereign wealth fund has invested $2.2bn in Bahrain since its inception in 2006, and made $181m in global and local investments over the course of 2018, added chief executive Mahmood Alkooheji.

Notable investments last year include the acquisition of Bahrain-based H Al Dhaen Boats, the acquisition of 420 square kilometres of agricultural land for development in Sudan, through the creation of a wholly-owned company Khairat Al Bahrain, and a $100m investment in Al Waha Fund of Funds, which aims to provide financing to Bahraini start-ups.

Mr Alkooheji told The National in February he was eyeing double-digit revenue growth in 2019 due to an anticipated 50 per cent forecast jump in revenue at Alba when the aluminium giant's Line 6 expansion project comes online later this year.

Net profit for the full year 2018 dropped to $148.4 million (Dh555m), attributed to the rising cost of raw materials and other factors related to “the varying circumstances of the two fiscal years”, Mumtalakat's statement added.