Riyadh-based Jadwa Investment of plans to invest in US and UK commercial property, the Financial Times reported Sunday, citing officers from the fund including its Chairman, Prince Faisal Bin Salman Bin Abdul Aziz. For Jadwa Investment, commercial real estate was, with natural resources, the most appealing investment opportunity, Prince Faisal told the Financial Times in an interview. The fund is targeting a £700 million ($1.1 billion) commercial property transaction in the UK in collaboration with European property investor CIT. Property specialists said only one transaction of that scale was under way: a portfolio being sold by insurance group Aviva, for which CIT is bidding. Fadi Tabbara, the fund's chief investment officer, said that it wanted to expand abroad to continue diversifying revenue streams so as to make them “less sporadic and more predictable”. Brad Bourland, Jadwa's chief economist, said: “We are focusing on areas where there is currently a favorable exchange rate, attractive asset prices and a historical connection. The US and UK markets meet these criteria the most at the moment.” The prince said Jadwa, which had $2 billion under management, had about half that sum invested in discretionary funds for clients while the rest was split between 17 third-party funds. A further two funds - focused on commodities and private equity - were planned. Jadwa's Saudi equity fund is up 26.5 percent in the year to date versus an increase of 16.5 per cent in the benchmark S&P Saudi Shariah index. Prince Faisal said he saw no opportunities to invest in bank shareholdings, as other Middle Eastern funds have done. Meanwhile, lack of inputs and a lackluster trading session pulled Saudi Arabia's TASI index down by 1.63 percent to 5,407.31 points. The insurance sector index plummeted 5.15 percent. According to a report, Islamic insurance (Takaful) operators face increasing problems in finding a Re-Takaful operator due to growth rates above 25 percent per annum. Shares of Yanbu Cement closed 0.46 percent lower at SR48. Kuwait's Global Investment House reiterated its ‘buy'-rating for Yanbu Cement, saying that the current P/E-ratio of 8.9 is ‘cheap' and that the stock has an upside potential of 65 percent.
