Shuaa Capital acquires 11% stake in Kuwait's Amwal

The deal is part of the firms strategy to increase assets under management

Shuaa Capital is seeking acquisitions to boost its assets under management. Jaime Puebla / The National
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Shuaa Capital, a Dubai-listed investment bank, bought 11 per cent of Kuwait-based Amwal International Investment as part of the firm's acquisition strategy that seeks to bolster its balance sheet.

“This is one of several strategic investments that build upon Shuaa’s evolution strategy, and helps take the region’s financial services landscape to a new level,” said Fawad Tariq-Khan, general manager of Shuaa. “We see potential for great value in Amwal and synergies between our capital markets offering and access to Noor Capital Markets trading platform.”

Amwal is a Kuwait-listed investment firm whose main investments includes a 51 per cent stake in Noor Capital Markets, an online trading platform, Shuaa said.

Shuaa acquired this year two financial services firms from its biggest shareholder, the Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG), an alternative investment company with US$5 billion in assets.

The sale of Integrated Capital and Integrated Securities represents a move to beef up Shuaa’s financial services portfolio by ADFG, which acquired a 48.3 per cent stake in Shuaa from Dubai Group in 2016.

Integrated Capital acts as ADFG’s capital markets arm, offering equity and debt capital market services while Integrated Securities is a securities brokerage with more than 3,000 retail and institutional clients.

The acquisitions come as Shuaa sets a target of increasing its assets under management to Dh5bn by the end of the year from their current level of Dh1.8bn, eventually rising to Dh9bn by 2020.

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