Saudi- Investment banking: Kingdom offers attractive opportunities

(MENAFN- Arab News) The Saudi market will remain Swicorp's most important focus in view of the tremendous attractions and opportunities in the Kingdom says a top management executive.
Investment banking will look to continue the growth of its corporate finance advisory business includingin mega real estate and advisory projects in the Kingdom and also in the rest of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region Daniel Schenker CEO Swicorp told Arab News in an exclusive interview.
It is in this context that Swicorp has been highly active right across the Kingdom and elsewhere in the MENA region with a track record of transactions across the Gulf North Africa Egypt Turkey and the Levant he said.
Giving an overview of Swicorp he said it is a major investment banking private equity and asset management firm with a specific regional focus on the MENA.
From its headquarters in Riyadh and regional offices in Jeddah Geneva Tunis and Dubai Swicorp provides corporations and investors with independent advice and assistance on key strategic financial and investment issues.
Founded in 1987 by current Chairman Kamel Lazaar and licensed by the Saudi Capital Market Authority and the Dubai Financial Services Authority of the UAE Swicorp today has grown to be one of the region's premier financial services providers he says.
In fact Swicorp has an extensive track record of over 27 years of pioneering mergers and acquisitions advisory and real estate transactions across MENA for regional and international clients.
It also has developed into one of the major players in the private equity sector in MENA raising over $1 billion in private equity funds since 2005.

These are highlights of the interview:

Q: Do you exclusively focus on the Saudi market or are you similarly interested in other foreign markets?
A: The Saudi market has historically been and will remain Swicorp's most important focus.
This is in view of the tremendous attractions and opportunities of the market in the Kingdom.
However Swicorp has also been highly active right across the MENA region with a track record of transactions in North Africa Egypt Turkey and the Levant and across the Gulf.
These regional capabilities are reflected by the presence of dedicated staff located in strategic areas in offices across the Gulf and North Africa.
While we do not intend to stray too far from our primary geographic focus we are also assessing opportunities to develop a presence in adjacent emerging markets such as sub-Saharan Africa where we may leverage our knowledge expertise and network for the benefit of our valued clients and investors.

Q: What are your plans and strategy targets for 2015?
A: Swicorp is driven by the desire to leverage its financial and intellectual capital to help our clients and investors realize their objectives.
We know that if we succeed in this aim Swicorp will also be successful.
We believe that Swicorp has built a special indeed unique platform in MENA and over the past two years all our businesses have grown stronger. The core blocks that will drive future growth are already largely in place and established.
In summary these are as follows:
Investment banking will look to continue the growth of its corporate finance advisory business including in mega real estate and advisory projects an area where Swicorp has established clear market leadership.
Private equity will look to grow the 'syndicated private equity' activity as well as sourcing and structuring initiatives to develop new private equity funds with a specific geographic or sector focusSwicorp will look to expand its asset management activities by developing new products and increasing the level of assets under management both in the listed equities sector and also the increasingly important real estate funds activity.
We continuously look for additional opportunities to grow and diversify our activities by leveraging our strong platform in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
Partnerships or joint ventures can therefore come under consideration if the right combination of market needs expertise and skills can be found.

Q: Which areas are the most vibrant for your projects in Saudi Arabia?
A: Swicorp is actively deploying its own funds alongside those of co-investors to invest directly in Saudi companies which have a clear source of sustainable competitive advantage and leadership position within their industry and are benefiting from recently realized or expected structural changes within the sector.
Through its network of relationships and on-the-ground presence Swicorp is ideally positioned to invest in privately-held companies that benefit from the long-term attractive fundamentals of the Saudi market and which will play an important role in the future growth of the Kingdom's economy.
Toward the end of last year Sadeed Investment Ltd. a Swicorp and partners-owned investment vehicle dedicated to making investments in the Saudi steel sector acquired a 30 percent equity participation in BRC Industrial (Saudia) Ltd. one of the leading long steel products manufacturing and processing companies in Saudi Arabia which has been growing steadily over the past 30 years on the back of strong investment in infrastructure in the Kingdom.
Another syndicated private equity transaction is approaching the final stages of completion and Swicorp has been actively developing a strong pipeline of similar opportunities which is likely to lead to significant activity in this area over the next 12 to eighteen months.
The real estate sector is another area of major importance for Swicorp.
In recent years Swicorp developed a particular expertise in providing structuredfinance solutions to real estate development companies and projects and has been activelyinvolved in many of the mega infrastructure projects currently transforming thelandscape across Saudi Arabia and the GCC.
Swicorp also acted as financial adviserto some of the largest real estate development projects in the holy cities of Makkah andMadinah.
Leveraging this expertise Swicorp recently developed a thriving real estate fund activity commencing with the successful structuring and launches of the Al-Dhawahi and Ewan Al-Qayrawwan real estate fund.
Following these we have a good pipeline of projects at different stages of progress and are looking to launch several new funds to capitalize on the opportunities in the different real estate sectors and regions of the Kingdom in the near future.
We are confident that real estate fund management will develop into a major activity for Swicorp in the coming months and years.

Q: What are your future plans in the field of asset management?
A: Swicorp is committed to developing and growing each of our main areas of expertise.
For asset management specifically we intend to capitalize on our strong track record to offer existing and new clients tailor-made solutions that may benefit from our investment philosophy and insights.
Aside from real estate funds Swicorp launched its Tharwa fund last year an equity fund investing in the main regional stock markets.
This fund was launched by our asset management team following several years managing Swicorp's own portfolio very successfully with returns consistently exceeding local and regional indexes.
With the client portfolio management license secured in 2014 Swicorp is now in a position to offer tailored asset management services to our clients in addition to our fund offerings.
In terms of new products we tend to be very selective and avoid chasing the latest trend or hype.
We rigorously assess each opportunity and need to be fully convinced that the product will bring real value to clients and that the timing of such launch is appropriate.
In listed equities for example we decided to go to the market and meet clients only after testing our approach and philosophy by managing our own capital successfully for over three years and after ensuring we had the right capabilities to manage third party money.
This is reflected in the nature of the products we launch; we look to add real value to clients and demonstrate our confidence in and commitment to each product by having 'skin in the game.'
In the near term we are working on launching multiple new products.
In listed equities the recent favorable activity in IPOs and the relative advantage that public funds have in the allocation process offers a window of opportunity to launch a fund that benefits from this trend.
Also we are working on launching an innovative fund that would invest based on internally developed models and takes advantage of 'short-lived' anomalies in the market.