DUBAI: Kuwait s Global Investment House will increase its investment and advisory work in Egypt, which had one of the world s best performing stock markets last year, a senior company official said. Shailesh Dash, senior vice president and head of strategic investment at Global, told Reuters the firm was looking to open an office in Egypt and increase its investments in the country s energy and petrochemical sector in the coming year. We in Global in the next 12 months are going to be very aggressive on Egypt, he told Reuters on the sidelines of a financial conference which ended on Monday. We are looking at Global itself in Egypt … In investment banking, asset management and brokerage, added Dash. Egypt s benchmark Hermes index soared more than 130 percent in 2005. Investors have been encouraged by reforms such as tax cuts and a privatization drive introduced by a cabinet appointed in mid-2004. We are also looking at investing in private equity, pre-IPO institutions, particularly in the energy sector and refineries, Dash said. Global invested in an IPO of 20 percent of Alexandria Mineral Oils Co. last year and expects to make similar investments in the future, he said. Global, which has about $6 billion in assets under management, is launching a $1 billion fund that will mostly invest outside the Arab Gulf states. Forty percent of its investments will be in the (Gulf Arab States) and the remaining will be outside, said Dash, adding the minimum investment in the five-year fund would be $1 million. The fund s target countries include Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Sudan, India and China. Reuters
Kuwait's Global eyes Egypt, plans $1 billion fund
