SEDCO Capital, one of the largest asset managers in Saudi Arabia, has participated in the Islamic Finance Forum as an associate sponsor to discuss the benefits of combining Shariah finance principles with ethical investment.
The forum, which took place at Mansion House in London, included several panels and workshops focusing on trends in Islamic finance and European markets. Panel topics included the role of European stock exchanges in facilitating Islamic capital raising, Islamic corporate financing activity in Europe and the impact of Brexit.
Kamran Butt, managing director at SEDCO Capital, participated in the panel discussion entitled “Responsible Investing: The Shift toward Green Finance, ESG & Ethical Funds,” alongside executives from the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and other global institutions.
Butt said: “We call this Prudent Ethical Investing, combining Shariah principles, which involve avoiding excess leverage, and ESG principles which ensure our investments serve society. We have found that both sets of principles combined, create optimal risk adjusted returns and provide the right investment characteristics for our clients.”
The participation from SEDCO Capital comes after Hassan Al-Jabri, SEDCO Capital’s CEO, launched the firm’s new Prudent Ethical Investing (PEI) investment strategy, integrating Shariah-compliant investment approach with ethical investing.
PEI stresses the importance of due diligence and transparency around investment structures, processes and reporting while also integrating the analysis of environmental, social and governance criteria in the investment process. The strategy seeks to avoid high financial risk and aims to enhance long-term risk-adjusted returns.
Al-Jabri, who has been developing the PEI approach since 2013, recently oversaw the publication of a seminal SEDCO Capital white paper, entitled “How can Responsible Investors Benefit from Islamic Criteria?” which looked at the performance of responsible investments, Islamic investments and conventional portfolios across the US, Europe and Asian equity markets. The research showed that Shariah-compliant portfolios have outperformed conventional and responsible investment strategies over the last decade on an absolute return and risk-adjusted basis across all analyzed markets.
SEDCO Capital was the first Saudi asset manager and the first fully Shariah-compliant asset manager to become a signatory of the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investing (UNPRI), an initiative started by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. This principle-based framework called for the incorporation of environmental, social and governance variables when analyzing risk for any investment.
SEDCO Capital participates in Islamic Finance Forum
SEDCO Capital participates in Islamic Finance Forum
Tourism Minister opens Radisson Hotel Madinah
Minister of Tourism and Chairman of the Board of the Tourism Development Fund Ahmed Al-Khateeb recently inaugurated the Radisson Hotel Madinah. The hotel has been enabled by the TDF, a Saudi government fund dedicated to supporting and developing the Saudi tourism sector. The opening of the new property falls within ongoing efforts to enhance the hospitality infrastructure in Madinah and increase its readiness to receive visitors, thereby improving the quality of tourism services in line with the objectives of the National Tourism Strategy and Saudi Vision 2030.
The minister stated that the opening of Radisson Hotel Madinah reflects TDF’s commitment to high-quality and diversified projects that meet visitors’ needs. He said: “Saudi Arabia continues to advance the development of the hospitality sector across different regions to ensure the provision of exceptional accommodation experiences that enhance the visitor journey and support the sustainable growth of tourism, particularly in cities of religious and historical significance such as Madinah.”
TDF CEO Qusai Al-Fakhri said that the fund continues to perform its role as the national enabler of the tourism sector by supporting projects that generate tangible economic and developmental impact. He explained that the hotel’s opening represents a model of TDF’s role in diversified tourism investments and support for the private sector’s hotel projects, which increase accommodation capacity, create job opportunities, and enhance quality of life in Madinah.
The four-star Radisson Hotel Madinah spans an area exceeding 2,300 square meters and comprises 165 rooms. It is located next to Quba Mosque, 12 minutes by car from the Prophet’s Mosque, and 20 minutes from Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport, making it a convenient choice for city visitors and pilgrims. The hotel includes a restaurant serving guests and visitors, dedicated meeting and event spaces, and sports facilities.
The hotel contributes to stimulating the local economic activity and supporting the tourism and hospitality ecosystem, enhancing Madinah’s readiness to receive increasing numbers of visitors and pilgrims in the coming years.
This project is part of the TDF’s portfolio of tourism projects in various regions of the Kingdom. The TDF has contributed to more than 130 tourism projects in Madinah, with total contributions exceeding SR1.5 billion ($400 million) and accommodation capacity surpassing 2,100 hotel rooms, reaffirming its role in advancing tourism investment, sustainable development objectives, and the tourism sector’s contribution to the national economy, in line with the National Tourism Strategy and Saudi Vision 2030.
