(MENAFN- Arab Times) The KCIC (Kuwait China Investment Company) an investment firm specializing in investments in Asia, held on Thursday its Annual General Meeting of shareholders at the company's headquarters in Kuwait where the board reviewed the company's 2011's achievements and challenges, and delivered an outlook for 2012.
In his message to shareholders, the Chairman of the company Omar Kutayba Al-Ghanim said just three years after the global crisis on 2008, 2011 was marked by continued volatility in the financial markets and increased political instability.
Fortunately, these events did not mar the strong fundamentals of the Asian economies who continued to drive global growth with China alone recording an expansion of 9.2 percent, he said.
He went on to say, unfortunately, Asia's market performance lagged with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index losing over 19 percent for the year. This was largely due to the market's sensitivity to fund flows as global investors switched between being risk aversion to risk prosperity.
KCIC's performance in 2011 was also set against a backdrop in which most companies in Kuwait's investment sector have or will have serious restructuring or organizational needs.
Speaking to shareholders, Al-Ghanim said, "2011 will be remembered as a milestone year for KCIC. At a time when our peers were scaling their businesses down, we opened our Hong Kong and Dubai offices as KCIC today cannot continue without a local presence in Asia. Our Hong Kong office will soon be the company's main Asia office, with Dubai to provide the sales and marketing functions."
He added, "We at KCIC were proud to have maintained the health of the company's balance sheet having protected our shareholder's equity during highly uncertain and volatile economic times."
In 2011, the KCIC launched several portfolio strategies to further expand the firm's already wide offering for its clients and investors. Even under difficult markets conditions, by the end of the year, nine out of the 13 portfolio strategies deployed by the company had outperformed their respective benchmarks.
In the same year, the company also expanded its direct investment activities by concluding an investment in Atlantic Gulf & Pacific (AG&P). AG&P is a 100-year-old company based in the Philippines, with a long history of participating in the construction of globally important projects across the world.
The KCIC's participation will help introduce AG&P to the region and especially in the Gulf, and working alongside global multinationals.
In 2011, the KCIC also kept a close eye on managing risk and reduced the impact from the drop of Asian markets on the company's returns.
For example, China and India markets alone were down by almost 30 percent and 25 percent respectively by year-end, however KCIC's return on equity was only down by 11.3 percent, he said.
The company continued to bolster its back and middle office functions and integrating its client infrastructure to deliver a "best in class" platform needed to grow and help scale its business.
He also said, "Despite continued volatility in financial markets, increased political instability in the region and the impact of the Japan tsunami on Asian markets, Asia's strong fundamentals were not affected as Asia continued to drive global growth with China alone recording an expansion of 9.2%.
"The KCIC remains fully convinced that Asia will continue to be the main driver for global growth and bringing with it exciting investment opportunities to capitalize on. We will continue to work diligently to steer through these volatile times and combing the markets for new prospective investments."
KCIC is an investment company founded by an Amiri Decree with a capital of KD 80 million and a mandate to invest in domestic demand-driven sectors in Asia, namely energy, real estate, healthcare, infrastructure, and financial services.
The publicly-listed company employs a team of Asia specialists and currently manages assets in excess of $260 million. Key shareholders include the Kuwait Investment Authority (Kuwait's Sovereign Wealth Fund), National Investment Company (one of the leading investment banks in the Middle East), and Al Ghanim Industries (one of the largest conglomerates in the Middle East).
The KCIC had earlier postponed its AGM due to lack of quorum.
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