Al Rayan Investment has several Islamic deals in the pipeline while working on expanding its product portfolio to potentially add another exchange-traded fund, on the back of optimistic economic projections for the GCC region. VINEETA TAN writes.
In an interview with IFN, Al Rayan Investment’s acting CEO, Akber Khan, revealed that the Doha-based firm has secured mandates for asset disposals, Sukuk offerings as well as local IPOs, with at least one of the IPOs slated for this year and another to “follow soon after”.
“On the asset management side, while we have been investing in Sukuk for a long time on behalf of institutional investors, we are looking at a Sukuk fund so we can allow greater access to investors which we haven’t really addressed,” Akber said.
Akber also confirmed that the Islamic investment bank is also considering the possibility of launching a non-equity-based ETF. Al Rayan Investment already operates the region’s largest ETF, the Al Rayan Qatar ETF, which was launched in 2018.
The firm’s healthy pipeline is built upon rather optimistic regional economic growth expectations, bucking the wider global projection for a recession.
“While interest rates are an issue, and while commodity prices for certain exports are an issue, the key commodity for the region is oil and that is in good shape,” explained Akber, who added that domestic growth in the GCC is fairly insulated from economic pressures experienced outside of the region. “Global conditions are not weighted on the investment landscape from a local sentiment point of view and also, the extremely comprehensive development plans that the governments of the region have are being executed with a great sense of urgency.”
While most economies are battling with soaring food and energy prices in the aftermath of a global pandemic while the war in Ukraine is ongoing, the GCC has largely benefited from energy price inflation. Countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar have been in aggressive growth mode, pouring in billions into infrastructure projects.
“In terms of economic activity, there is a huge amount of catch-up that needs to be done for the Saudi people; and Saudi companies need to catch up with the current demand that is across a gamut of industries from education, healthcare to housing,” Akber explained, noting that Saudi Arabia is the region’s most exciting market from an investment point of view.
This is an excerpt of an interview with Al Rayan Investment’s Akber Khan. To listen to the full discussion on the GCC’s current investment landscape, log on to IFN Podcast.
