Leading investment banking and asset management institution, Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz), said today its flagship local investment funds continue to demonstrate strong performance, consistently outperforming market benchmarks.
Sami Al-Hasawi, Executive Vice President – Local & GCC Department, said “our continued success lies in our thorough understanding of financial markets along with the disciplined and innovative approaches of our fund managers. Our commitment to transparency is demonstrated by the weekly reporting of our funds’ performances to our clients and the listing of the main investment holdings of the fund.”
Since its inception in December 1999, Mumtaz Fund (Kuwait’s first established equity fund) has delivered a return of 827% as of year end 2005, earning the highest return of any investment fund since inception in Kuwait. Mumtaz has also by far surpassed the KIC Index, delivering an average return since inception of approximately 140% per annum.
Midaf Fund (Kuwait’s largest equity fund) has recorded an average yearly return of 88% since its inception in July 2001, while the Islamic Fund (investing in Shari’a-compliant companies) has returned an 80% yearly average since inception in October 2003, as of year end 2005.
In an effort to focus on meeting client investment needs, Markaz introduced the first options trading platform in the Middle East through Forsa Financial Fund. Forsa is achieving stable returns with relatively low risk by investing in the shares of companies listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange, issuing and selling derivative instruments (Call options) on KSE listed stocks, recording a return of 83.6 % since inception in June 2004.
Markaz also recently launched Markaz Gulf Fund, offering broad exposure to strongly performing companies listed on GCC stock markets. Markaz Gulf Fund is an attractive investment opportunity for equity investors seeking medium to long term capital growth.
Beyond attracting institutions and individuals to invest with Markaz, the company has gone further, extending its activities to actually managing funds for competitors in the same market sector.
Markaz asset management strategy focuses primarily on investing in blue chip companies which deliver sound operating profits aligning that with strict investment guidelines that restricts the fund manager to invest more than 15% of any fund’s capital in a single stock. Markaz’s investment structure aims to achieve medium to long-term capital growth, not short-term speculation that would lead to volatile and unstable returns.
Markaz ensures that its interest is fully aligned with those of its clients by holding an investment of at least 5% in each of its funds.
“With an average yearly return of almost 100% across our regional private investment portfolios and funds, Markaz continues to widen its product offer to ensure new investment solutions for investors looking to achieve sustained, long-term wealth creation,” Mr. Al-Hasawi said.
“As GCC equities enter 2006 with a highly positive outlook, there is an enormous appetite among both local and international investors for opportunities in the Kuwaiti and Gulf markets. Markaz’s investment solutions, whether funds or portfolio, are in particularly high demand, and we believe that Markaz is particularly well positioned to serve international institutions from around the globe. On the strength of our consistent long-term performance, this level of investor interest is well deserved,” Mr Al-Hasawi said.
Mr. Al-Hasawi concluded saying “We will continue to expertly manage our investment funds with the firm objective of building on our track record of success.”
