Rasmala, a Middle East investment banking firm, has announced the first closing of Rasmala Mena Private Equity Fund 2, with USD120m in commitments received.
Rasmala, a Middle East investment banking firm, has announced the first closing of Rasmala Mena Private Equity Fund 2, with USD120m in commitments received.
The Sharia compliant fund is primarily focused on mid-cap opportunities in the Gulf Cooperation Council and Egypt that benefit from the region’s GDP growth.
It has a target internal rate of return of 25 per cent per annum.
Tamer Bazzari, deputy chief executive at Rasmala and member of the fund’s investment committee, says: ‘With this successful first closing we are confident of reaching the target fund size of the USD350m in the next few months.
‘We see an abundance of opportunities in the region and believe this is an opportune time to be investing given liquidity needs in the market and attractive valuations. The fund has already made one investment in the UAE manufacturing sector and is evaluating several attractive opportunities in the banking, oil and gas, logistics, healthcare and education sectors.’
Rasmala launched one of the first regionally focused private equity funds in 1999. It was successfully liquidated in 2007, returning 3.5 times the capital to investors and achieving a gross internal rate of return of 22 per cent.
