Shuaa Capital merged with the Abu Dhabi Financial Group two years ago to create a business with both an asset management and investment banking platform. Jaime Puebla / The National
Shuaa Capital merged with the Abu Dhabi Financial Group two years ago to create a business with both an asset management and investment banking platform. Jaime Puebla / The National
Shuaa Capital merged with the Abu Dhabi Financial Group two years ago to create a business with both an asset management and investment banking platform. Jaime Puebla / The National
Shuaa Capital merged with the Abu Dhabi Financial Group two years ago to create a business with both an asset management and investment banking platform. Jaime Puebla / The National

Shuaa's chief executive raises his stake in investment bank to nearly 30%


Sarmad Khan
  • English
  • Arabic

Shuaa Capital's chief executive Jassim Alseddiqi has increased his stake in the Dubai-based investment bank and now controls more than a quarter of the company.

Investors including Mr Alseddiqi bought about 58 million shares from Shine Investments in Commercial Projects.

The transaction pushed Mr Alseddiqi 's direct stake in the company to nearly 30 per cent, Shuaa said in a regulatory filing to the Dubai Financial Market, where its shares are traded.

It did not give financial details of the transaction or disclose what Mr Alseddiqi’s previous stake in the company was.

After the acquisition, which was executed through a “special deal” on the DFM, Shine does not own a stake in the investment bank, Shuaa said on Sunday.

Mr Alseddiqi is also chairman of GFH Financial Group and board member of First Abu Dhabi Bank and the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Shuaa Capital merged with the Abu Dhabi Financial Group two years ago to create a business with both an asset management and investment banking platform to diversify its revenue streams.

In August, the company reported a jump in first-half profit on the back of higher net fee and commission income.

Its net income for the reporting period rose to Dh54 million ($14.7m) from Dh5m a year earlier. Net fee and commission income climbed more than 52 per cent to Dh157m, it said at the time.

The company also plans to set up three special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, with capital of $200m each, as it looks to tap into the growing market for blank-cheque companies, it said in July.

Shuaa, which has assets of $14 billion under management, led the funding round for music-streaming service Anghami late last year.

It is also launching a digital platform to expand its wealth management services and in June hired a former Visa executive Hadi Raad to run its FinTech business.

The investment bank intends to integrate technology such as artificial intelligence with “curated management and advisory services” it said at the time.

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EA Sports FC 25

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

 

 

Updated: September 12, 2021, 12:23 PM