Jadwa Investment completes global distribution agreement with Allfunds Bank

a leading Saudi Arabian investment management and advisory firm, has completed a distribution agreement with European leading platform Allfunds Bank (AFB) to offer shariah-compliant mutual funds to international investors across AFB’s global platform.

Under the terms of the agreement, Jadwa’s portfolio of public equity and fixed income funds will be accessible across AFB’s worldwide network of 33 countries,

including commercial banks, private banking institutions, fund managers, insurance and takaful companies and fund supermarkets. Jadwa Investment will be one of only two Saudi based providers of shariah-compliant funds on the platform and the only investment firm to provide actively managed and passively managed (indexed) shariah-compliant funds.

“This partnership allows financial institutions on AFB’s platform to provide their clients with access to Jadwa’s portfolio of high performance regional and global funds” said Zaheeruddin Khalid, Head of Asset Management and CIO at Jadwa Investment. “Whether investors are specifically looking for shariah-compliant funds or simply seeking market-leading returns, this partnership offers exposure to the largest equity markets in the Middle East in vehicles with an established track record of outperformance.”

Since their inception in June 2007, Jadwa’s flagship Saudi, GCC and MENA Markets Equity funds have delivered returns of 191%, 156% and 139.3% respectively as of 31 Aug 2015, compared to returns of 44.6%, 9% and 8.3% in their respective benchmarks. Jadwa is the only investment management firm in the region to hold a Moody’s Investment Manager Quality Assessment of MQ2. The first and highest Manager’s Quality Assessment in the MENA region.

With assets under management worth more than USD 5.3 billion across public equity, private equity, real estate, and fixed income investments, over 60% of which are from institutional investors, Jadwa Investment is one of the largest asset managers in Saudi Arabia and the MENA region.

“Our conversations with international institutional investors show that there is strong interest in the Saudi equity market given its scale, profile, and growth prospects,” said Zaheeruddin Khalid, “Through Jadwa funds on the AFB platform, investors can now access the MENA markets in general and Saudi market in particular with relative ease. Jadwa’s Global Sukuk Fund with a track record going back to October 2007 could also be an interesting option for low risk investors, given the growing shariah compliant debt market.”

Allfunds Bank, established in 2000 is one of the world's leading global B2B distribution platforms of third-party funds, offering a one-stop solution for funds dealing, information management and research services. AFB is equally owned by the Santander Group & Intesa-Sanpaolo financial group, although it operates as a fully independent company.

AFB has a presence in Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Chile, UAE, Luxembourg, Colombia and Switzerland. With over USD 220 billion in assets under intermediation, AFB facilitated 10% of worldwide volume of cross border funds in 2014. The company operates through 60,000 bank branches, 25,000 financial advisor & private bankers and 20,000 life insurance branches.