ebrd discussing coinvestments with gulf sovereign funds
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

EBRD discussing co-investments with Gulf sovereign funds

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today EBRD discussing co-investments with Gulf sovereign funds

Dubai - Arab Today

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is in talks with Gulf sovereign wealth funds to invest jointly, and hopes to complete a round of fund-raising for such investments by the end of this year, the bank’s president said on Monday.
The multilateral bank, owned by 65 countries, aids economies by lending to companies and projects and taking equity stakes in them. In recent years it has expanded its activities beyond Eastern Europe and after the Arab uprisings of 2011, began operating in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.
Suma Chakrabarti said he was arguing to the Gulf sovereign funds that EBRD projects offered good commercial returns, and also that such investments made sense because of the Gulf’s growing commercial and political ties with EBRD member states as far afield as eastern Europe and Georgia.
“We are talking to a range of sovereign funds in the Gulf region,” Chakrabarti said. “We are having extremely positive discussions.”
He declined to name the funds, but said they were at the stage of doing due diligence on the EBRD’s business model.
Several Gulf sovereign funds are among the world’s largest, with assets in the hundreds of billions of dollars. As low oil prices strain Gulf governments’ finances, reducing flows of new petrodollars into the funds, they are looking at ways to boost returns.
Some are already co-investing indirectly in projects with other multilateral institutions. Last month, Bahrain’s Asma Capital agreed to buy a stake in the water business of United Arab Emirates (UAE) utility company Utico in a deal worth $147 million; Asma’s owners include Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).
Chakrabarti said the EBRD was asking Gulf sovereign funds to invest in its Equity Participation Fund, which gives long-term institutional investors exposure to EBRD equity investments above €10 million ($10.6 million).
The fund was launched last year with an initial size of €350 million and China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan as cornerstone investors.
The EBRD hopes to complete a second closing of the fund later this year, Chakrabarti said, adding that sovereign funds might also choose to invest directly in projects alongside the EBRD.
The bank has now invested €5 billion in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. Chakrabarti said it had plenty of spare capital and felt it was still only scratching the surface of commercial opportunities in those countries, so he expected growth to continue at a similar speed.
“I would be very surprised if it does not double in the next five years,” he said.
Business conditions in Egypt are improving in the wake of Cairo’s $12 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in November — “businesses are complaining less to us about the foreign exchange shortage” — although the economy is still hampered by cumbersome, top-down decision-making in the government, Chakrabarti said.
The EBRD intends to expand its activities to Lebanon once the Lebanese Parliament has given final approval to that country’s membership. Chakrabarti said he expected this to happen soon and that projects in Lebanon had been identified for investment.

Source: Arab News

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

ebrd discussing coinvestments with gulf sovereign funds ebrd discussing coinvestments with gulf sovereign funds

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

ebrd discussing coinvestments with gulf sovereign funds ebrd discussing coinvestments with gulf sovereign funds

 



GMT 06:46 2017 Wednesday ,04 October

Pope to bless icon for Holy Family Journey to Egypt

GMT 15:51 2017 Tuesday ,22 August

FVP informed on arrangements for Sudan in meetings

GMT 04:55 2016 Monday ,03 October

Alec Baldwin nails it as Trump on ‘SNL’

GMT 21:15 2017 Tuesday ,19 September

Security forces intensify their presence in Kirkuk

GMT 03:39 2017 Saturday ,30 September

Al Jawaheri economic improvement

GMT 10:29 2018 Saturday ,06 January

Siniora meets German Ambassador

GMT 06:27 2017 Tuesday ,26 December

Embassy in Russia marks National Days

GMT 19:06 2017 Thursday ,05 January

Moral policing in Maharashtra, too

GMT 11:49 2017 Wednesday ,26 April

OIC Condemns Attack on Military Base in Afghanistan

GMT 18:35 2017 Monday ,27 February

UK foreign secretary leaves Egypt

GMT 14:34 2017 Monday ,21 August

Bahrain-Malaysia ties praised

GMT 18:36 2017 Sunday ,30 July

Fayez explains impact of differences

GMT 08:54 2017 Wednesday ,17 May

New traffic rules to impact Dubai visitors

GMT 21:00 2017 Tuesday ,28 March

Immigration minister heads for Kuwait
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday