SHUAA Capital is looking to expand in the Saudi and Egyptian markets, whilst also managing two initial public offerings (IPOs) in the UAE, the company’s chairman said Monday.
Speaking at a press conference in Dubai, Jassem Al Siddiqi revealed that his company’s growing focus on the Saudi market was part of its core strategy through which it aims to raise its market share of managed real estate assets.
There is also a plan to launch a real estate fund worth SAR 2 billion (AED 1.96 billion/$530 million) in Saudi Arabia soon, he stated.
“The Egyptian market is attractive in terms of investment and SHUAA is looking to enter the financial services sector there even if it does not have an active licence there just yet,” the chairman said.
SHUAA will also manage IPOs for two companies operating in the UAE’s real estate sector this year, the top official told reporters.
Al Siddiqi revealed that one company will list its shares on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), while the other was still considering its options in terms of which market to list on.
“The IPOs will exceed AED 500 million for each company,” he stated.
SHUAA has received a licence to act as a market maker on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM), the chairman revealed, noting that his company was in talks with the ADX to get a similar licence.
We are looking to increase our managed assets in the financial and real estate markets from AED 1.8 billion in 2016 to AED 5 billion by the end of 2017 and to AED 9 billion by 2020, Al Siddiqi, who doubles as the CEO and managing director of Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG), highlighted.
He expects SHUAA’s managed assets to reach around AED 3.5 billion to AED 4 billion by the end of the first quarter of 2017.
The company hopes to turn profitable starting Q1-17, after a series of losses, the top official added.
Al Siddiqi noted that his company did not have any outstanding debt and has the opportunity to issue debt instruments.
“We are also currently working on restructuring our wholly-owned subsidiary Gulf Finance, which has suffered significant losses over the past few years,” the chairman said.
Gulf Finance incurred losses reaching AED 400 million over the past five years.
SHUAA is also currently working on exiting a number of older investments, which it now deems unrelated to its core business, Al Siddiqi said.
These divestitures include a 49%-owned water subsidiary, which the company has had a stake in since 2008 and whose value amounts to AED 50 million.
