IslamicFinance.de

Saudi SEDCO Capital announced the offering of its first Shariah-compliant real estate investment traded fund SEDCO Capital REIT. The fund will be offered to the general public through an initial public offer during the period of Jan. 24 to Feb. 6. With an occupancy rate of over 92%, SEDCO Capital’s real estate portfolio has grown to include seven assets across various geographical regions. According to CEO Hasan Al-Jabri, SEDCO Capital Real Estate Income Fund targets to generate an initial net yield of 7% through the acquisition of additional assets and by utilizing capital. To facilitate the offering period, three receiving entities were appointed for investors to subscribe, these include NCB, Al Rajhi Bank and Samba Financial Group.

#Saudi asset manager SEDCO Capital participated in the Islamic Finance Forum in London as an associate sponsor. Several panels and workshops were held focusing on trends in Islamic Finance and European markets. Panel topics included the role of European Stock Exchanges in facilitating Islamic capital raising, Islamic corporate financing activity in Europe and the impact of Brexit. Kamran Butt, Managing Director at SEDCO Capital, participated in the panel discussion entitled "Responsible Investing: The Shift towards Green Finance, ESG & Ethical Funds". Butt said SEDCO's Prudent Ethical Investing (PEI) strategy created optimal risk adjusted returns by integrating Shariah-compliant investment approach with ethical investing. PEI stresses the importance of due diligence and transparency. PEI investment products are getting increasingly popular. International investors can choose from over 14 SEDCO Sharia-compliant investment strategies in Luxembourg with total AUMs of $1.8 billion.

Socially responsible investment (SRI) and Islamic finance share significant common ground. Both spheres of investment demand the businesses chosen for investment are socially useful, not detrimental to humanity, and compliant with humanitarian ethics. SEDCO Capital has incorporated the Sharia-compliant investment approach with its responsible investment strategy and created the concept of prudent ethical investing (PEI). At the heart of PEI lie the environmental, social and governance criteria (ESG) that are integrated into financial analyses. SEDCO Capital is not only Sharia-compliant but also evaluates ESG aspects as part of its investment process. PEI is merging these two forces to embrace a more sustainable economic development model that is expected to attract non-Muslim SRI investors into the Islamic finance market.

Saudi Arabia's Sedco Capital has launched an investment strategy combining environment-conscious and sharia-compliant principles. The move could help develop green investing in the Middle East and make Islamic finance appeal to a wider client base. Green finance is increasingly important for Islamic firms seeking to differentiate themselves from peers. Sedco said its new strategy, dubbed Prudent Ethical Investing, would focus on due diligence and transparency around investment structures, while integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. The firm launched two ESG funds in 2012 and has published research which showed how a combined investment approach
can outperform conventional funds. According to its research, such a strategy can lead to investments with lower financial leverage and better cash conversion qualities, adding a prudential element to those portfolios.

SEDCO Capital announced the acquisition of seven real estate assets over the past 19 months, bolstering the firm’s realty portfolio in Saudi Arabia. The purchased assets include the Hyper Panda retail in Dammam, Olya School in Riyadh, Dar Al Baraa School in Riyadh, an Extra Store in Dammam, Alhamra Plaza retail strip outlet in Riyadh and Irgah Plaza retail strip outlet in Riyadh. The acquisitions collectively total SR473 million in purchase price for approximately 88,000 sqm of built up area. According to Hasan Al-Jabri, CEO of SEDCO Capital, the total assets under management reach the $5.2 billion mark and clearly show clients' confidence in SEDCO.

SEDCO Capital has joined the RFI Foundation as an industry member. SEDCO brings a strong commitment to responsible finance as a Shari'ah compliant investment manager. SEDCO Capital offers services in asset management, including asset allocation, real estate, private equity, public equity, liquidity instruments, agriculture, timber, and commodities that conform to Shari'ah. According to CEO Blake Goud, the activities of the RFI Foundation will support greater convergence between Islamic and traditional responsible finance in the coming years.

Hosted by Bank Negara Malaysia, organised by the RFI Foundation and co-organised by Middle East Global Advisors, the Responsible Finance Summit will take place on 30-31 March at Sasana Kijang, a center for knowledge and learning excellence established by Bank Negara Malaysia. The Summit has announced the support of SEDCO Capital, the Saudi firm that manages assets across a diversified spectrum of investments in real estate, equities and other businesses with a total AUM of $3.9 billion. The Summit will host a discussion between leaders in the Islamic finance and responsible investment to identify how to fully realise the emerging market responsible finance opportunity.

Islamic finance seen as a real point of convergence between the East and the West. Hasan AlJabri, CEO of SEDCO Capital participated in the Global Ethical Finance Forum which was hosted by the Scottish Government and in cooperation with the UK Islamic Finance Council.
The forum which took place in Edinburgh, Scotland, brought together thought leaders and executives from the ethical finance industry to ‘discuss untapped opportunities and spur convergence and collaboration’. The forum was officially opened by Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia and HRH Emir Muhammad Sanusi II, Emir of Kano.

Under the title “Growing the global ethical finance industry through collaboration and convergence”, AlJabri pointed that although there are many different forms of responsible investments, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), Socially Responsible Investing (SRI), and Islamic Finance, they all emerge from concern about the social and environmental consequences of investment practices, and a desire to ensure that investors make a positive contribution to the societies in which they operate to create sustainable economic development.

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank has agreed a € 76 million medium-term refinancing facility for Sedco Capital, advised by LaSalle Investment Management, for a mixed-use portfolio located predominately in Berlin. pbb is acting as sole lender and hedge provider for the facility. The mixed-use portfolio consists of eight German assets with a total lettable area of 65,770 sqm. Four of the largest assets, in terms of value, are located in Berlin and represent 75% of the portfolio's value.

Gatehouse Bank plc has announced the completion of terms to provide £17.92 million of senior financing following the recent acquisition of a UK industrial estate by Saudi Arabia's SEDCO Capital. Palmer Capital is acting as the Investment Manager to SEDCO Capital which through this venture intends to deploy £100 million into UK real estate over the next 12 months through this venture. This transaction is the first such transaction for this programme, which will target the recovering office and industrial real estate market in the UK. The funding supports the acquisition of Blakelands Industrial Estate, an industrial estate in Milton Keynes.

Jeddah-based Islamic investment firm Sedco Capital has launched the first fund managed by its own in-house team, looking to bulk up its asset management capabilities. The Gulf equities fund, domiciled in Luxembourg, has an intial $30 million in assets and is Sedco's 14th fund overall. It is part of Sedco's strategy to source two-thirds of its assets under management from outside Saudi Arabia in four to five years. Previously, Sedco relied on external advisors for its funds. Sedco Capital said it had also signed the United Nations' Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI), becoming the first Gulf-based Islamic asset manager to do so.

SEDCO Capital announced assigning the External Shari’a Audit of its $160 million real estate funds to Shariyah Review Bureau (SRB). The two funds which SRB will be periodically auditing the implementation of the Shari’a h guidelines are SEDCO Capital Partners Group Opportunities Fund and SEDCO Capital Real Estate Income Fund I. SRB will independently ensure that the investments, Zakah verification, implementation of the modalities and reporting functions are conducted in accordance with the Shari’a guidelines set out by SEDCO Capital Shari’a Supervisory Board.

Saudi investment firm Sedco Capital plans to register its Islamic funds in Switzerland and distribute them through tie-ups with global private Banks. This is part of efforts to diversify its client base outside Saudi Arabia. Sedco Capital has incorporated environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles into two of the equity funds, widening their appeal to include ethically minded investors in general. The firm hopes this will allow its funds to be marketed to investors beyond traditional Islamic areas in the Middle East and southeast Asia. The firm aims to be able to source two-thirds of its assets under management from outside Saudi Arabia in four to five years. One fund is to be signed by October and the second one by December.Sedco Capital's two ESG funds, launched in May last year, have $230 million in assets and are managed by Stockholm-based Informed Portfolio Management.

Sedco Capital, the Saudi Arabia-based asset manager, has launched an investment platform of Sharia-compliant funds aimed at high net worth investors and institutional investors. The Sedco Capital Global Funds platform, a Luxembourg Sicav, currently has a choice of seven investment funds with total assets under management of more than $1bn. The plan is for the platform to include over 15 funds totalling more than $1.6bn by the end of 2013.

The markets for Islamic banking, insurance and sukuk bonds have all seen solid growth in recent years, but the sharia-compliant fund industry remains tiny. According to Hasan Al Jabri, chief executive of Saudi Arabia’s Sedco Capital, the growth of sharia-compliant investment has been stunted by a reputation for a lack of diversity, poor performance and high fees. Since May 2012, Sedco Capital has been building what is believed to be the largest sharia-compliant fund platform in Luxembourg. Its five vehicles hold $900m of assets. Sedco is currently launching two more vehicles. Mr Al Jabri emphasized that their investments are responsible, help creating value for the economy and jobs.

Together with some of the leading global managers, SEDCO Capital has worked on the development of sophisticated Shariah-compliant investments. Due to low leverage they often are even more rewarding than conventional investments. Through Islamic finance real value in the economy can be created, enabling the creation of real growth and jobs. Also, the sukuk market continuously grows on a global scale because of ncreasing interest in Islamic financing modes.

According to Hasan S. AlJabri - CEO of SEDCO Capital - banks in Saudi Arabia have success in Shariah-compliant financing and arouse attention and excitement around the world. Together with some of the leading global managers SEDCO has been working on the development of sophisticated Shariah-compliant investments making them more rewarding than conventional investments. The reason for that is pointed out to be the low leverage.

The expectations of Sedco Capital are that its assets under management will double during the next five years due to the company's expansion into new. The expansion plans are driven by the increasing demand from Shariah-compliant investors. The investment firm established an entity in Luxembourg in July 2012 aiming to expand its reach in the Shariah-compliant private equity, real estate and commodities space. Unlike most sharia-compliant firms, which operate on a regional basis, Sedco wants to go global.

Sedco Capital is launching its first annual investor forum for asset allocation. The title of the event is "Alternative Approaches to Asset Allocation — Strategic, Tactical and Dynamic." Its purpose is to underline the dynamic process of establishing an appropriate asset allocation mix, in addition to explaining how this process plays a key role in determining a portfolio's overall risk and return.
Two experts will highlight and introduce the various asset allocation investment options, based on the three alternative approaches to asset allocation, whether it is strategic, tactical or dynamic: Michel Meert, a senior investment consultant at Towers Watson and Robert Parker, a senior adviser to Credit Suisse.

SEDCO Capital has been launched as wealth management company focusing on super and ultra high net worth individuals, sophisticated institutional investors and family offices. This comes a year after the grant of the Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority.
Bin Mahfouz family are the owners of the company.