Global Opportunistic Fund II returns USD15.3 million back to the investors
The Private Equity Funds group of Global Investment House announced today that Global Opportunistic Fund II "GOFII" is declaring a distribution of USD15.3 million, primarily derived from a combination of gains from divestment as well as dividends from portfolio companies.
GOF II, a private equity fund managed by Global, invests in growth equity opportunities in the MENA region as well as in Turkey, China and South Asia.
Bulk of the distribution was generated from GOFII’s divestment from Reliance Petroleum Limited (RPL) in April 2009, which achieved an IRR of more than 70% and multiple of 1.84x on the transaction for the fund.
Mr. Shailesh Dash, Managing Partner at Global Capital Management Limited (GCML) (the alternative investment asset management arm of Global Investment House) said “The fund was one of the top ten investors in RPL along with Chevron, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, and Fidelity. We have been liquidating our position in tranches to optimize our returns and I am happy to state that we have completed our divestment at a very attractive net return to GOF II.”
He added “The strategy of GOF II has always been to maintain some liquidity in the investment portfolio so that we can give our investors regular returns. It is noteworthy that GOFII still has other listed investments in its portfolio which should ensure liquidity flowing back to our investors constantly.”
The other bulk of this distribution comes from dividends received from 2 other portfolio investments –Gulf Healthcare International and Planet Pharmacy. Through these tough economic times, GOFII’s investments in these healthcare entities are paying off well as they are in a defensive sector, with 2008 profits for Gulf Healthcare International doubling from its 2007 levels, and Planet Pharmacy trumping even that with a more than 2-fold rise in net profits in 2008. The generous dividends from these 2 entities will be distributed to GOFII investors along with the gains from the RPL divestment.
Mr. Shailesh Dash opined “Global Capital Management had the foresight to focus a huge portion of our funds into defensive sectors, as we believe that good fund managers must be able to generate returns not only in bull markets, but during economic crisis, such as the one we are experiencing now.”
It is worth mentioning that GOF II seeks capital appreciation with optimum returns, within controlled levels of risk, over the medium to long term by investing in late stage as well as growth opportunities in the target countries. The Fund is now fully invested across ten investments and has exited four investments at IRRs between 40% to 350%. The Fund’s investments span ten different sectors including such defensive sectors as healthcare and more than 30% of the Fund is also invested outside the region which lends the overall portfolio a diversified edge.
The PE group at Global currently manages more than USD 3 billion of private equity assets. The PE Group is one of the largest teams in the MENA with over 50 well qualified professionals comprising of 12 nationalities, providing a ‘local’ perspective for deals in all target markets. The team has a cumulative work experience of over 300 years ranging from private equity, investment banking, advisory, venture capital, financial research, credit rating and audit across varied sectors.
The team has invested near $1.5 billion in 54 transactions across 11 sectors in Middle East and North Africa, Turkey, South Asia & China during past 4 years. The team has also successfully managed 15 exits generating an IRR of around 67% as of December 2008 for its existing investor base which comprises international and MENA institutional investors. GCML’s achievements have been recognized at product and deal level through awards such as Fund of the Year for 2007 and 2008, as well as Private Equity Deal of the Year for 2008 by Terrapinn.
