Abu Dhabi: Leading Abu Dhabi investment company Waha Capital has launched a new income generating Islamic fund, adding to the group’s existing funds within its asset management.
The new fund - Waha Islamic Income Fund SP- will invest in Shariah compliant assets across the sukuk and equity markets, and will have a global outreach for investments. The fund is to be open-ended, and is expected to have a capacity in excess of $500 million.
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“While our existing funds have some Shariah compliant elements in them, there has been a steadily growing demand from our existing clients over the past couple of years for us to develop such a fully-fledged Islamic fund,” said Amr Al Menhali, chief executive officer of Waha Capital, commenting on the launch.
“We are confident that the new fund will be well received because it avoids investment in prohibited or controversial activities or assets and business sectors that may be considered as particularly risky or potentially volatile,” he added.
Successful funds
The group’s latest Islamic fund adds to Waha Capital’s other funds, including its Waha Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) credit fund, which invests in emerging markets, and having achieved a return of over 180 per cent by the end of last year.
The Waha MENA Equity fund was launched in 2014, and has reached a cumulative return of 175 per cent since inception against the S+P Pan Arab Index benchmark, whose performance over the same period has been flat.
Waha’s MENA Value Fund SP fund produced a return of 25.34 per cent in 2019 and overall by 56.1 per cent since its launch in 2015.
”Waha Capital intends to use its proven expertise to bridge a gap in what our clients are seeking from us, so as to offer them an actively managed, income producing Shariah compliant solution with a global dimension,” Al Menhali said. “We are positioning this new fund as a focal point around which we can build a whole Shariah compliant offering.”
The company currently manages assets across several sectors, including healthcare, financial services, energy, infrastructure, industrial real estate and capital markets.
