Kuwait-based leading financial institution Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) yesterday said its two funds – Gulf Premier Fund and Gulf Islamic Fund – have achieved higher returns, underlining the recovery and stability in the Gulf economies.
GIC said its Gulf Premier Fund attracted strong investment from numerous GCC and foreign investors and achieved a year-to-date return of 11.49 per cent.
The fund has recorded even higher returns of 80.14 per cent since its launch in April 2003.
Talal Al Tawari, Head of Equities at the GIC, said the Gulf Islamic Fund saw extremely good performance since the beginning of 2009, having achieved a 34.3 per cent growth.
The fund was launched in January in line with GIC's strategy to establish Shariah-compliant funds that takes into consideration the level of each sector and country in addition to the conventional funds. The fund seeks to achieve a higher return on the capital by investment in the shares of GCC companies whose operations are compliant with the provisions of the Islamic Shariah.
The fund adopts a strategy of selecting companies on the basis of the strength of their operational balance sheets.
It applies a conservative growth policy aiming at achieving satisfactory returns. This has prompted specialised bodies, including Zawiyah, to classify the fund as the best-performing fund compared with the other GCC shares funds for this year.
He said the GCC economies were the most stable despite the deep global financial crises.
He attributed this remarkable performance to several factors, mainly the professional approach adopted by the fund management team in identifying, evaluating and selecting investment opportunities according to set professional criteria supported by field visits to the underlying companies, yet considering that all the GCC markets form one large super market forming a class of their own.
Malek Essa Al Ajeel, Head of Business Development at GIC, said competence, focused experienced and deep knowledge of the GCC markets by the respective management teams played a key role in the growth of the funds.
Al Ajeel emphasised the benefits of investing in the GCC markets which provide high financial returns with minimal risks, as witnessed by analytical studies of the implications of the global financial crisis.
He said Gulf Investment Corporation recommends investment in those GCC shares funds that enjoy professional management, strong risk management and good performance, in addition to the diversification feature in terms of sector and country, as well as selecting the shares that have good current and prospective underlying operational performance.
Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the daily Emirates Business 24|7 newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here