DFM-listed Al Mal Capital REIT completes rights issue - and ready to pick up more schools

That kind of assuredness is winning Al Mal Capital REIT – which listed on DFM early 2021 - its investors. The fund, looking to expand its asset base, announced a rights issue on February 5, intending to increase the capital of the fund by 400 million units at Dh1.1 a share, a near 114 per cent hike. (In addition, there was a further Dh40 million via issue premium.)

As of now, the REIT is open only to UAE and Gulf investors as well as listed local companies - but that could change and ‘we will open this REIT to a certain extent to foreigners also’.

It has not been easy ride for REITs – which essentially group together investors to place their funds across real estate asset classes - in the UAE. Some had failed to meet investor expectations, and that can make for a bumpy ride. And property markets being cyclical, returns too can go through bouts of heavy fluctuations.

In the recent past, there had been other entities that had tried to put together REITS, whether here or some of the Gulf markets. Those haven’t come to much fruition.

This is where Al Mal Capital and its REIT have made measured headway. And again, that focus on assets that are recession-resilient have helped.

“While we've done K-12 so far, we are absolutely open to higher education (college properties) also, because once a certain catchment area is achieved and the facility have a certain credibility, students will come,” said Vig.

As to whether it’s time to consider doing the same outside of UAE, Vig said: “By law, we are permitted to invest 25 per cent of the fund outside. At this point of time, because we've just started and I believe there's a lot of potential available, we will continue to focus on UAE. And then subsequently venture outside - maybe Saudi Arabia and so on…”