JEDDAH, 4 June 2007 — Targeting small investors, 3i Capital Group (3iC Group) has introduced a Dubai Growth Fund (Enmaa), a Shariah-compliant open-ended $100 million public fund.
Yousef Amin, managing partner of 3iC Group, told Arab News in an interview on Saturday that the “minimum subscription per investor is $1,000.”
Enmaa is the first of three classes of shares that is part of the AED1-billion Dubai Growth Fund announced by the group last quarter during the GCC Stock Market Conference in Dubai.
Emirates Islamic Bank PJSC, a leading Islamic bank of the UAE, has been appointed as the receiving bank and also to process subscriptions and redemptions for the fund. HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd. has been appointed as custodian and administrator of the fund. The National Investor (TNI), a leading UAE asset manager, has been retained by Enmaa to become the portfolio manager.
3iC Group, an international investment firm licensed by the Financial Services Commission of the British Virgin Islands with operations in Malaysia and the United States, is the sponsor and manager of Enmaa. The fund will primarily invest in high growth equities and pre-IPO opportunities in the Middle East and selected international markets and will be following the Dow Jones Islamic Indexes criteria. “We launched the fund in January since we believed there was a need for Shariah-compliant avenues for investment for small investors,” Amin said. “In fact, small investors had no avenue to invest in the market unless he did so himself or through one of the banking channels. Our fund, with an entry investment of $1,000 with daily liquidity, offers an ideal avenue for small investors,” he said.
“The fund has capability to grow beyond $100 million,” he added. Dr. Akram Yosri, an adjunct professor of business and technology at New York University, is a founding and managing partner partner of the group.
Tarek Hans Heiba, former partner at Blackbaud Software, a publicly traded company in the United States, is senior vice president and associate partner.
Fauzi Saad, a financial analyst who managed a $3 billion fund in Malaysia before, is managing partner of the group.
Amin has over 17 years experience in the investment management business. He is the managing partner of the group and responsible for real estate funds development and a member of the investment committee.
He is former CEO of Saeed Amin Investments, a conglomerate based in the Kingdom with several investments in Europe, South America and the US.
“We at 3iC Group are planning to launch two more funds of $100 million each — a real estate fund and an exchange traded fund listed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) by year-end,” Amin said, adding that the group is the first to operate privately outside the banking sector for small investors with no lockup period. “Our client list includes GCC nationals and expatriate residents. We are also partners with Dubai Businessswomen Council, a division of Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry, which is cosponsoring the Enmaa fund.
“This is essentially a pension fund, meaning investors can look forward to retirement benefits,” he said, and hoped that salaried employees like school teachers and nurses, and small families who, with limited income cannot invest by themselves would benefit from the fund.
“We as fund managers have set milestones for ourselves. There is a placement fee but we share profits only after the investor gets more than 10 percent returns,” he said. “We expect a very healthy growth for the fund. Ours is not like a stock market investment. In our fund, you have to invest and watch for its growth for prosperous returns,” he added.
“As the GCC equity market is constantly growing, we are trying to spread our wings and cover the entire Middle East and North Africa region. We want to explore the prospects for our fund especially in Egypt and Morocco,” he said.
Across the Kingdom, 3iC Group is trying to establish strategic partnerships to distribute its funds. “Right now any resident of GCC can buy into the Enmaa fund through Emirates Islamic Bank. HSBC account holders can invest through their banking channel. We are also examining how best to attract more investors,” Amin said.
He said the group’s four partners started as investors in groups of companies and found and realized what was lacking in the investment market. “Because of our background and experience, we all were of the view that funds with Islamic Shariah-compliance would be the best with high benefits,” he added.
“As the financial industry is growing rapidly, we feel there is a growing need for such service. We are currently under contract by several companies,” Amin said.
