Shuaa's $200m new fund targets GCC corporates, developers

Shuua Capital, a leading investment banking platform in the region, has launched a $200 million 'financing opportunities fund' targeting special situations in the GCC.
The closed-ended fund with a four-year tenor fund seeks to extend finance for corporates and developers in the region. It has already attracted a total of $68 million in commitments from investors, the investment firm said.     
Shuaa, which has a track record in the private credit space in deploying and returning in excess of $250 million to investors and generating mid-teen returns of 15 per cent, currently manages $13 billion in assets. The company plans to expand its investment banking and asset management businesses to boost assets under management to $20billion.
Shuaa said the key objective of its latest fund is to generate income yield and preserve capital, through a well-identified mandate covering targeted and strategic investments in senior, mezzanine and uni-tranche Sharia-compliant financing for corporates and developers in the GCC region.
The fund is the fourth to be announced by the investment platform in 2020, which has raised over $140 million in the past three months.
Earlier this month, Shuaa launched three Sharia-compliant, open-ended funds with initial investment commitments of $75 million through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Shuaa GMC. The funds targetting qualified institutional investors include Shuaa High Yield Sukuk Fund, Nujoom Aggressive Fund, and Nujoom Balanced Fund.  
Jassim Alseddiqi, chief executive officer of Shuaa, said despite the challenging market conditions for borrowers, Shuaa believes that there are attractive opportunities in the GCC market that would generate appropriate risk-adjusted returns for its investors, in key sectors including healthcare, real estate, hospitality, construction, and shipping.
"Opportunities in the current market environment include short-term recapitalisations, growth capital, bridge loans and acquisition financing. Shuaa's investment team has hence identified several needs for this type and level of financing in projects across the GCC region and is looking to provide them with innovative alternative investments including last-mile funding, something in which we have successfully engaged since the last financial crisis. We look forward to jumpstarting these key projects towards their successful completion and continuing to support their future goals as our economy moves into a recovery phase," said Alseddiqi.
Mustafa Kheriba, deputy CEO and group head of asset management of Shuaa Capital, said the Fund is targeting mid-teen returns in the private debt market with stringent underwriting criteria to ensure downside protection for our investors. 
issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com