The shareholders of Global MENA Financial Assets (GMFA) approved the distribution of USD50 million to its shareholders through a buyback of shares tendered and substituting the Company’s existing investment policy to include investment in sectors other than financial services.
The decision was approved at the firm’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Thursday 18 August, 2011. GMFA was listed on the London Stock Exchange in July 2008 with an initial Net Asset Value of USD500m.
Hisham Al Otaibi, Chairman of GMFA says: “The financial services sector, being the most affected by the crisis continues to elude recovery, limiting the universe of investment grade opportunities in the sector. Considering the weak business outlook for the financial services sector, the board has recommended expanding sectoral focus to include non financial sectors. This will broaden GMFA’s investment opportunity horizon and enable it to benefit from potential high growth opportunities in the non financial sectors in the region”.
Rajiv Nakani (pictured), Managing Partner at Global Capital Management, says: “The prolonged inactivity and uncertainty prevailing in the regional financial markets and the recent geopolitical upheaval prompted GMFA to follow a conservative investment policy that was focused on capital preservation. The board, as a prudent measure, recommended to distribute a portion of the capital, which was welcomed by the shareholders given the current liquidity drought and challenging investment environment”.
