Shuaa Capital to launch two Sharia-compliant funds in first half of year

Assets managed by the company's ICC platform grew 210% over the past two years

Shuaa expects assets managed by its ICC platform to exceed $400 million. Pawan Singh / The National

Dubai investment banking and asset management company Shuaa Capital plans to launch two Sharia-compliant funds in the first half of this year as it diversifies its business and expands its asset portfolio.

The new funds will be managed by Shuaa GMC under the umbrella of Shuaa's Incorporated Cell Company (ICC) fund structure, domiciled within the Abu Dhabi Global Market.

One of the funds will be set up in the first quarter of the year, with a focus on Saudi Arabia and the GCC, Shuaa Capital said on Monday in a filing to the Dubai Financial Market, where its shares are traded.

The company is also looking to launch a dedicated Sharia-compliant money market fund in the second quarter, it said.

Following the launch of the new funds, Shuaa expects assets managed by the product platform to exceed $400 million.

The company also reported that its assets under management on the ICC platform grew by 210 per cent over the past two years, increasing to more than $230 million in 2022 “despite challenging market conditions”.

“Our funds have significantly outperformed their composite benchmarks and peers despite market headwinds,” said Ajit Joshi, managing director and head of public and private markets at Shuaa Capital.

“The challenging global macroeconomic backdrop only confirms the effectiveness of our disciplined investment call and identification of investor needs for Sharia-compliant investments across prime geographies and regions.”

Shuaa established the ICC fund structure in ADGM in November 2020 to diversify its offerings, and has since launched five funds.

They include the Nujoom Aggressive Fund that invests mainly in regional and global equities and the Nujoom Balanced Fund that invests equally in equities and fixed income.

In December, it launched three funds including the Global Sukuk Fund that invests in global sukuk, Murabaha, Ijarah and other Sharia-compliant instruments, the Global Equity Fund, which invests in Sharia-compliant global equities, with a focus on “high-quality, high-growth businesses that it believes are currently undervalued”, and the North American Fund, which is focused on equities in the US, invests across most sectors in the country.

The expansion of the ICC fund offering is in line with Shuaa's strategy to diversify and grow its recurring fee income base, it said.

“The new funds will expand the choices available to institutional investors, high-net-worth individuals and corporate investors, and will provide additional investment opportunities to diversify their investments across geographies and asset classes,” the company said.

Shuaa has made several key transactions in recent quarters. They include the listing of Anghami, the first Arab technology company on Nasdaq, through a special purpose acquisition company, as well as the management of a $50 million structured sukuk for UAE agriculture technology company Pure Harvest Smart Farms.

The transactions also include its managed fund's acquisition of Stanford Marine and Allianz Marine and Logistics Services Holding to create the world's fourth-largest operator of offshore support vessels.