ADIH Issues a New Class of Shares for its Al Joud GCC Equity Fund

• Al Joud: Shari’a compliant fund investing in GCC markets
• New class of shares is to pay out dividends
• GCC existing markets very sound

Abu Dhabi, UAE – Abu Dhabi Investment House (ADIH) yesterday announced the issuance of second-class shares that will be paying out dividends under its existing Shari’a-compliant Al Joud GCC Equity Fund, that currently re-invests its dividends back into the market.

Mr Wael Mattar, Head of ADIH Investment Advisory Group said, ‘The issuance of the new class of shares for Al Joud comes after ADIH conducted its due diligence in confirmation that now is an excellent time to invest within the GCC as valuations are very attractive while the fundamentals of GCC economies and prospects of blue chip companies that Al Joud invests in are very sound.’

Al Joud’s management team will be the same portfolio management team that has successfully managed funds that were exited within the ADIH portfolio such as Al Arabi Private Equity Fund and the Lagoon Fund. The team has built a solid track record in identifying and purchasing relatively undervalued securities – based on extensive research. The ADIH Investment Placement team has commenced their initial approaches to potential investors in the region.

Mr Mattar further said, ‘with a solid track record that has surpassed expectations, we have demonstrated our team’s experience and are confident that the opportunities we offer our clients will grow from strength to strength.’

According to a recent study, Sharia’a compliant investments have proven that they are the least affected by the current financial crisis in the world. This is due to the fact that Sharia’a compliant investments contain many features that are now considered instrumental to a timely resurgence of conventional markets. Also, Asset-backing, entrepreneurial investment and specific credit participation in identified business risk are fundamental to any Islamic transaction, mortgage securitization represents a straightforward capital market-based form of Islamic finance.

Accordingly, some governments such as the US are currently studying the implementation of such policies to redress the misaligned incentives of asset managers that undermined ex ante market discipline. This practice is also being used by Germany for the same reason.