EIIB-Rasmala, the Dubai-based investment bank and asset manager, will expand its leasing and property fund products amid increased investor demand in the Arabian Gulf region.
The group yesterday said that it was finalising the launch of two leasing fund strategies and planning to expand its UAE property business.
This came amid a surge in demand driven by progressive regulatory activity of regional markets, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, as well as greater investor confidence in the underlying market fundamentals of the region, the group said.
“In 2014 we saw a higher level of investor demand for broader, more alternative investment products, as well as greater overseas investor interest in our key markets,” said EIIB-Rasmala’s chief executive, Zak Hydari.
A company spokesman said that the new funds would not be domiciled in the Dubai International Finance Centre, despite recent efforts to persuade asset managers to launch products from the free zone.
EIIB-Rasmala said that it expected to raise about US$1 billion for its growing leasing and alternatives business and approximately $250 million to invest in a broad mix of property transactions in the United Kingdom.
The group is also seeking to increase its shareholding in Rasmala Egypt Asset Management, in response to what it says are stabilising economic and political conditions in the country.
The group currently owns a 51 per cent stake in the Egyptian company.
“The Egyptian asset management market has become an attractive sector that is primed for further growth, as well as the further attention of international investors,” the company said.
EIIB-Rasmala was formed in 2012, when the London-based European Islamic Investment Bank (EIIB) acquired a 35 per cent stake in the Dubai-based Rasmala Holdings. EIIB increased its stake to 76.3 per cent at the end of last year. The group is listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market.
jeverington@thenational.ae
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