Saudi Ministry of Education to showcase innovations at 2025 Geneva International Exhibition    7,523 violators of residency, labor, and border security laws deported in a week    Video contradicts Israeli army account of deadly March 23 strike on Gaza paramedics    Saudi Arabia spends over $241 million to implement de-mining projects in 3 countries    Italy's Meloni government approves controversial security decree expanding police protections and penalties    Egypt submits new Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange proposal: Report    'Everything is possible' — Ronaldo focused on titles, not 1,000-goal milestone after Riyadh Derby win    Saudi, US military leaders discuss enhanced defense cooperation in Riyadh    King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language launches program with Indiana University    Ronaldo brace powers Al Nassr past Al Hilal in Riyadh derby thriller    Ed Sheeran weaves Persian music into new song, Azizam    Al-Jadaan: Crown Prince's directives confirm government's ability to bring back balance to real estate market    Veteran Bollywood actor Manoj Kumar dies at 87    Foreign investors are allowed to engage in real estate business outside Makkah and Madinah Commercial speculation should not be the purpose of real estate transaction    Aubameyang fires Al Qadsiah into King's Cup final with stoppage-time winner over Al Raed    Musk's X is suing India, as Tesla and Starlink plan entry    Tesla sales plunge after backlash against Elon Musk    Danilo Pereira fires Al Ittihad into King's Cup final with dramatic stoppage-time double    Screen time in bed linked to insomnia, study finds    Mexico bans junk food in schools to fight childhood obesity epidemic    Sweet sales surge ahead of Eid as Saudi chocolate imports top 123 million kg in 2024    Bollywood actress vindicated over boyfriend's death after media hounding    Grand Mufti rules against posting prayers and preaching in mosques on social media    King Salman prays for peace and stability for Palestinians in Ramadan message King reaffirms Saudi Arabia's commitment to serving the Two Holy Mosques and pilgrims    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



GFH, ADIH, Ithmaar Bank form investment vehicles
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 28 - 08 - 2008

An agreement has been reached to create what has been described as three new “visionary initiatives” which are focused on driving market specific innovation across the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia (MENASA) region and beyond.
Gulf Finance House, Ithmaar Bank and Abu Dhabi Investment House announced on Wednesday the formation of InfraCapital which will be the GCCs first investment bank specializing in the provision of tailored infrastructure development and finance.
AgriCapital will be a new investment vehicle focused entirely on serving agricultural ventures and communities and the Hospitality Development Fund (HDF) will be established to nurture and support opportunities across the global hospitality sector. It added that the trio of Shari'ah compliant initiatives would represent a “turning point in the systematic approach to specialist investments.”
Each of the three initiatives are the product of an alliance between Gulf Finance House, Ithmaar Bank and Abu Dhabi Investment House and followed what they said were intensive due diligence and individual feasibility studies that confirmed a high level of demand across the infrastructure, agriculture and hospitality marketplaces. While each of the three alliance financial institutions will leverage their networks and experience in the creation of InfraCapital, AgriCapital and the HDF, they will all operate as stand alone businesses under their own management structure.
The trio claimed that the latest statistics show that the MENA region accounted for one in every three dollars spent on worldwide infrastructure initiatives. Over the next decade the GCC alone will demand up to $545 billion dollars of investment across the transport, power, water, energy, education and social infrastructures sectors. However, they did not say where the statistics came from.
InfraCapital was conceived as a direct response to this demand. With proposed authorized capital of $6 billion and target paid up capital of $1.5 billion, it will focus on the provision of specialist services and tailored financial architecture for a wide variety of sub-sector infrastructure initiatives.
The so-called ‘vision' behind the establishment of AgriCapital is to create an investment vehicle offering specialist and comprehensive finance solutions for the agriculture sector, which is curious in a part of the world which is mainly made up of sand and rocks and all this while a new Saudi sovereign wealth fund is talking about investing in agriculture abroad and is going to cut back its own production and possibly also reduce subsidies.
AgriCapital, according to the Bahrain-based trio, will encompass tailored products designed to serve a broad scope of agricultural projects and food production. Alongside these services and under the AgriCapital umbrella, a second investment company specializing in agricultural technologies, bio-technology and an investment bank specialized in agricultural investments will be created.
The overriding goal, they say, is to empower innovative agricultural ventures in areas of huge potential across the MENASA region. In the Middle East region alone, domestic production of crops and livestock amounts to less than half what it consumes. Increased consumption, extreme global weather conditions, rising energy prices and demand for bio-fuels have seen global food prices leap by 60 per cent over the past two years. The alliance recognizes the huge contribution MENASA countries can make to addressing problems in supply.
With proposed authorized capital of $3 billion and target paid up capital of $1 billion, AgriCapital will channel expertise and specialist capital into five principal lines: food production, livestock, biomedicine, bio-fuels and most importantly, agricultural technology.
The bank emanating from Agricapital shall provide funding to every aspect of visionary agricultural projects, catalyzing advances in the field of agri-technology and exploiting opportunities arising from the current and future challenges in global food production.
The Hospitality Development Fund will focus on two specific areas of investment and will call on alliance experience through ADIH's expertise in the conception of Entertainment Cities, Ithmaar's work on Delmonia and GFH's strategic relations with Banyan Tree. The first asset class will concentrate on developing new hospitality-centric vehicles including hotels, transport solutions and apartment complexes while the second will capitalize existing hospitality companies which show tremendous potential for growth. The fund will be released in the next quarter with a size of $1 billion and an initial closing of $300 million. __


Clic here to read the story from its source.