Shareholders of The National Investor approve dividend

Abu Dhabi: Shareholders of The National Investor (TNI) approved, at the company's annual general meeting, a cash dividend of five per cent of the par value of outstanding shares (Dh0.5 per share), and a ten per cent share dividend.

This will result in the issuance of five million additional shares, thus raising the capital from Dh500 million to Dh550 million.

NTI earned Dh113 million in profits in the year ending March 31, a 42 per cent increase over the previous year, as revenues increased by 74 per cent.

Orhan Osmansoy, Chief Executive Officer, explained that TNI participated in some of last year's record-breaking IPOs, including those of Aabar and Tamweel.

Speaking to Gulf News yesterday, Osmansoy revealed that TNI will launch a new fund, the TNI Real Estate Development Fund, which will target investments in developing or re-developing projects in the real estate sector throughout the Middle East, North Africa, India, Pakistan and South Africa.

"This new fund is kicking off this week, and we are expecting to reach to its close by the end of 2006, and it will amount to $200 million," Osmansoy said.

He also said that "there is yet another private equity fund in the pipeline, namely TNI Cross Capital Fund, which amounts to $150 million, and is expected to close by this autumn, targeting equities in the GCC and MENA regions, as well as the Indian subcontinent and South Africa."

Furthermore, the company is seeking to establish a fund of funds, namely the TNI Real Estate Fund of Funds International, with the aim of further diversifying and reducing the exposure to risks, and targeting international markets in Asia, North America and Europe, the expected size of the fund will be about $100 million.

Osmansoy explained that the operations of TNI were not affected by the recent downtrend of the UAE markets as the company took an early defensive position by liquidating most of the portfolio. However he insisted that "the UAE market is a very important market for us, and we are not thinking of pulling out, yet the interest of our shareholders is a priority, and our decisions come in the framework."

The new fund will target investments in developing or re-developing projects in the real estate sector.