Company Press Release:
Arabian General Investment Corp. (AGICO) announced that it has acquired a majority stake in Abu Dhab based Emirates Commercial Center (ECC), a leading broker in U.A.E. securities with significant market share. The transaction foresees doubling the capital of ECC.
AGICO's Chief Executive Officer, Iyad Duwaji, declared that this acquisition is part of AGICO's ongoing strategy to build itself as the leading dedicated investment and financial services provider in the U.A.E. He added that the transaction complements AGICO's newly launched portfolio management services in local shares. Mr. Mohammed Ali Yasin, Managing Partner of ECC said that the newly concluded deal will further establish ECC as the leading broker in the U.A.E., and added that ECC, with the help of its new partner, is working to provide its clients with the best execution, research on local companies, and an advanced technology platform for access to the U.A.E. market.
During the year 2000, the U.A.E. market continued its decline and lost 18.9 percent as measured by the NBAD index, while daily volumes retreated to very low levels. Yet Mr. Duwaji expressed confidence that the establishment of a formal market and the opening of both the Dubai and Abu Dhabi trading floors mark a very positive step for the market.
He also noted that current low volume is mainly the direct result of the loss of confidence in the market by retail investors who sustained heavy losses following a speculative bubble in local shares in the summer of 1998. He added that for the market to prosper in the future it needs to re-establish its credibility among local investors and attract new funds from international investors.
He pointed out that the U.A.E. stock market is the second largest in the region in term of its market capitalization, and that the market will benefit from projected strong economic growth in the U.A.E. in 2000-2001, from recent moves to open to non- UAE investors, and from moves to attract new listings and add new products such as fixed income securities.
AGICO is a UAE based public shareholding company, based in Dubai that specializes in the GCC and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) markets. With shareholder equity in excess of $100 million and a twenty year track record in the region, its current activities include asset and portfolio management, corporate finance and advisory services, research (www.shuaa.com), brokerage of both regional as well as international securities, in addition to private equity investments for its own account and those of its clients and investors. AGICO's shares are listed on both the Dubai Financial Market, and the Kuwait Stock Exchange where they are open to international investors.
Emirates Commercial Center is a limited liability company established in Abu Dhabi since 1984 with a broad client base, and is the only institution in the UAE to be a licensed broker on both the Abu Dhabi Securities Market and the Dubai Financial Market. It's shareholders and board members include leading business figures from the UAE.
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
