EPADI Fund (Energy, Petrochemical, and Downstream Industries Fund) has generated a return of 31.3 percent for its investors during the first seven months of 2009, making it one of the best performing funds in Kuwait as well as in the GCC region, Kuwait's Global Investment House said on Thursday. In comparison, the MSCI GCC Index, the regional equity benchmark index, is up only 16.5 percent over the corresponding period. The Fund performance has been driven by a rebound in regional equity markets as a result of rising oil prices and a revival in global investor sentiment. Head of GCC Asset Management at Global Shahid Hameed said: “This performance can be attributed to our rigorous research driven bottom-up investment process which allows us to identify the most attractive stocks across the region.” The Global EPADI Fund, which is among the few energy sector funds in the region, seeks to achieve long-term capital appreciation by investing in companies principally engaged in energy, petrochemicals and downstream industries listed on the Arabian stock exchanges. The investment process is based on a bottom-up stock selection methodology along with a macroeconomic overlay to identify growth opportunities throughout the MENA region.
