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NCB Capital, Saudi Arabia’s leading provider of wealth management and investment services, and the Kingdom’s largest asset manager, has announced the launch of its Pan European Real Estate Fund with more than $150 million raised through a private placement.
NCB Capital has partnered with Fidelity International, a leading global asset manager, to invest in commercial properties, including office, retail, logistics/industrial and mixed use, located in key European property markets including France, Germany, Benelux and the United Kingdom. Favorable currency conversion rates, robust legal and regulatory environments, coupled with consistent growth expectations of the core European economies make this an opportune time to invest in a solid real estate market.

A Riyal denominated Sukuk has been issued by the Saudi International Petrochemical Company. The company announced the successful completion of the issuance amounting to SAR 1.0 bn on June 16, 2016. The Sukuk was priced at 235 bps over six months SAIBOR for tenor of five years maturing on June 16, 2021. Riyadh Capital and NCB Capital helped to arrange the private issuance.
In the hard currency space, the Commercial Bank of Qatar issued a Eurobond which achieved the tightest spread for a MENA financial institution this year, conventional or Sukuk.
Whilst the issuance was not a Sukuk, demand for bond indicates strong investor appetite, a good sign of market demand which is likely to be tested with several large planned issuances post Ramadan. Most eagerly anticipated is a potential sovereign issuance by Saudi Arabia, as well as by Aramco, the Saudi national oil giant.

In a statement to the Tadawul, Saudi International Petrochemical Company announced the successful completion of a Shari’ah-compliant Sukuk issuance amounting to SAR 1.0 bn on 16 June 2016.
The Sukuk was priced at 235 bps over six-month SAIBOR for a tenor of five years maturing on June 16, 2021.
Eng. Ahmad Al-Ohali, Chief Executive Officer of Sipchem, commented that the successful completion of its second Sukuk offering will provide funding for general corporate purposes (including, without limitation, the repayment of any financial obligations). He expressed his appreciation to all who participated in the success of the Sukuk offering especially Riyad Capital and NCB Capital for their efforts in successfully managing the private issuance.
In a separate statement to the Tadawul, Sipchem also reported that with reference to the announcement to the market dated 12 May 2016 regarding the company’s intention to exercise its right of early redemption of its Mudaraba Sukuk with an aggregate amount of SAR 1.8 billion maturing on 6 July 2016, Sipchem successfully completed the early redemption of the Sukuk in full on 15 June 2016.

Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) will begin investors meetings in May for a potential issue of sharia-compliant bonds, the firm said on Sunday.
Sipchem has appointed Riyad Capital and NCB Capital as managers of the possible sukuk, the value of which "will be determined based on market conditions", according to a Riyadh bourse filing.
On March 28, Sipchem announced its board had approved issuing sukuk.

Saudi Arabia’s NCB Capital (NCBC) has launched a new AlAhli Tadawul platform designed to empower clients with more efficient tools and all the support and information they need to stay informed of promising investment opportunities available. The new reports and smart analytical tools include free features that automatically analyze the market and highlight promising opportunities. The availability of various trading channels enables traders to trade and keep track of stocks at any time and from any place. Additionally, the TeleTrading Service enables users to trade anywhere, even without an Internet connection. Live up-to-the-second stock prices are provided to all traders free of charge.

Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is set to meet fixed income investors starting Sunday ahead of a potential dollar-denominated sukuk transaction. The AAA-rated IDB has picked nine banks to arrange investor meetings in the Middle East and Asia, a benchmark offering will follow, subject to market conditions. CIMB, Dubai Islamic Bank, GIB Capital, HSBC, Natixis, NCB Capital, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, RHB Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered have been chosen to arrange the sukuk sale. IDB, which last issued $1.5 billion in five-year Islamic bonds in September, is looking to increase its issuance of sukuk, partly to raise its profile among international investors and to secure similar pricing levels to other development banks.

NCB Capital has sponsored a new fully equipped lab at Effat University in Jeddah as part of its commitment to spread financial literacy among Saudi Youth. The lab comprises of 25 computer machines and includes hardware and software which help students to monitor financial markets and train them on making sound investments. Sarah Al-Suhaimi, CEO of NCB Capital, said that education sector is a key part of NCB Capital’s corporate social responsibility activities. By sponsoring this initiative, NCB aims to forge a collaborative relationship with Effat University in order to support financial knowledge among the students, and to also introduce them to the world of investment, she added.

The International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm) has given initial price thoughts of mid-to-high teens of basis points over three month Libor as it looks to price a debut dollar sukuk. The Reg S deal will be a three year benchmark-sized floating rate note. Standard Chartered is acting as global co-ordinator, with Barwa Bank CIMB, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and NCB Capital the other joint bookrunners. Books are open.

Saudi investment bank NCB Capital has appointed Sarah Al-Suhaimi as CEO and member of the board subject to CMA approval. Tariq Linjawi, who had been acting CEO, is leaving the firm having successfully managed the organization through a transition period. Al-Suhaimi joins, following CMA approval, from Jadwa Investment where she was head of asset management and CIO, managing over SR17 billion of assets in public and private equity, real estate and fixed income. Sarah is the vice chairperson of the advisory committee to the CMA and is a graduate of King Saud University, with a Bachelor of Administrative Science degree in accounting.

NCB Capital has joined hands with Jeddah-based SEDCO Development Company to launch the AlAhli SEDCO Residential Development Fund, a public close-end Shariah-compliant investment opportunity. The fund provides investors with capital growth by purchasing land plots in Jeddah for development, construction and sale of residential apartments targeting the middle income segment of the population. Minimum subscription is SR50,000 and the fund aims to have an internal rate of return of 10 percent per year. The new fund has been created to address the shortage of reasonably affordable residential accommodation for middle and upper income home buyers.

National Commercial Bank has mandated its own banking arm, NCB Capital, as well as that of Gulf International Bank and the Saudi Arabian units of HSBC and JP Morgan to arrange a local currency sukuk. The sukuk will enhance the bank's Tier 2 - or supplementary - capital and will have a ten-year lifespan with an option of the bank redeeming the instrument after five years. The size of the issue has yet to be determined. NCB's chairman was quoted in October as saying the bank was planning to issue a capital-boosting sukuk worth up to 4 billion riyals ($1.07 billion).

HSBC and NCB Capital announced the completion of the largest ever government guaranteed sukuk in Saudi Arabia for the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA). Totaling SR15.211 billion ($4.056 billion), the sukuk achieved a profit rate of 3.21 percent p.a. HSBC and NCB Capital acted as joint lead managers and bookrunners of the sukuk. Additionally, HSBC acted as the sukuk coordinator, sole Shariah coordinator, and agent of sukuk holders and payment administration. Standard Chartered Saudi Arabia was co-lead manager for the issuance. The deal was 1.9 times oversubscribed with strong demand from a wide range of investors. Additionally, this issuance is also approved by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) to be eligible for repo arrangements and has also been assigned zero percent risk weighting for capital adequacy calculation purpose.

In NCB Capital's (NCBC) view, the 14.7% YoY growth in Albilad’s net income is the result of an increase in NSCI income and fee and other Income. Although the bank’s total operating income came broadly in-line with NCBC's estimate, lower than expected operating expenses including provisions resulted in net income that was 9.4% better than the estimate. Albilad’s NSCI grew 10.7% YoY to SR228mn, in-line with the estimates, led by a 25.3% YoY growth in net loans. Albilad’s investment base also expanded about 8 times which enabled the strong NSCI growth. However, despite the shift from cash towards higher yielding assets, NCBC's calculation suggest that NIMs declined 4bps YoY and 9bps QoQ. This implies that the front loan rates have been declining by a significant level. Albilad’s total operating expenses including provisions grew 5.0% YoY, but came-in 2.7% below the estimates, enabling the 14.7% YoY growth in profits.

Saudi Almarai Co picks NCB Capital to arrange local currency sukuk. The dairy group Almarai is going to hold meetings with the Saudi investors over next two weeks.

NCB Capital has launched AlAhli Global Natural Resource Fund aiming to enrich investment portfolios with natural resources due to rising demand for those in emerging markets. Investors are given the opportunity to achieve capital growth by investing primarily in the listed shares of international companies that are involved in the natural resource related sectors. AlAhli Global Natural Resource Fund is a Shariah-compliant fund denominated in US Dollars with a minimum subscription amount of $2000, managed by investment professionals.

Saudi Arabian NCB Capital is about to launch a range of Irish-domiciled Islamic mutual funds. This way the company is broadening its investor base and tries to appeal to emerging market investors. The company manages US$12.1bn worth of assets. It has launched two funds investing in Saudi Arabian and GCC equities. NCB's plans include the launch of other funds including one that will invest in sukuk.

This month, the first international mutual funds, which will be run by a Saudi Arabian manager, will be launched from Dublin. Equity funds investing in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region will be launched by NCB Capital. The operations will be compliant to the principles of Islamic Sharia law. This move is considered to be a continuation of the bank's strategy to become a significant player in the sharia market.

TCW will oversee NCB Capitals international equity funds and expand distribution of NCB products and services internationally.
TCW was selected from a field of other contending US asset managers for its leadership in US markets.
TCW will operate three funds for NCB; US, Small Cap and Healthcare equities. These funds will be available only to Saudi investors at this point, but the distribution will eventually develop internationally.

NCB Capital, a GCC wealth manager and Saudi Arabia's largest investment bank, has signed an exclusive agreement with INJAZ-Saudi Arabia to sponsor a three-year financial literacy-training program for male and female Saudi university students.

NCB Capital will continue its plan to expand its asset management and brokerage services throughout 2011 as the largest investment bank in the Kingdom works to increase its market share in the Arab world’s largest economy.
In February, NCB Capital launched the first Shariah-compliant, US dollar-denominated open-ended fund in order "to provide investors an opportunity to participate in a new expanding asset class-sukuk.”