Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat, appointed Khalid Al Rumaihi, who headed the kingdom's top economic promotion agency as its new chief executive.
Mr Al Rumaihi who heads the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) and has been a Mumtalakat board member since 2015, will replace Mahmood Alkooheji.
He will "continue to pursue the highest principles of corporate governance, generating wealth for the kingdom," said deputy prime minister and chairman of the board Sheikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa.
Mr Al Rumaihi is also currently the chairman of Bahrain Real Estate Investment (Edamah) and chairman of the Bahrain Development Bank. He is a board member of the National Bank of Bahrain, Bahrain Tourism & Exhibitions Authority and the National Oil & Gas Authority. He remains a board member of the EDB, which is responsible for inward investment.
"I’m excited at this expansion of my role and the forthcoming challenge," Mr Al Rumaihi said. "We will continue to surge forward, creating a positive economic impact in Bahrain while expanding our portfolio to adapt and cater to the changing economic climate."
Mr Al Rumaihi's experience includes more than a decade with Investcorp. Prior to that, he had a nine-year spell with JP Morgan's private client group as its head in the Gulf.
Established in 2006 with a mandate to grow Bahrain’s strategic non-oil and gas assets, Mumtalakat has diversified its portfolio of assets locally and globally. About 70 per cent of Mumtalakat’s $16 billion (Dh59bn) portfolio is in the Middle East, while 22 per cent of holdings are in Europe and 8 per cent are in the US.
The fund recorded a 38 per cent increase in revenues for 2018, following the 2017 consolidation of Formula One carmaker McLaren Group and higher sales at Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), one of its key assets.
Revenue increased to $5.5bn for the financial year ending December 31. Share of profits from associates increased by 268 per cent to $147.9 million, and the value of its consolidated assets rose to $168bn. The sovereign wealth fund has invested $2.2bn in Bahrain since its inception in 2006, and made $181m in both global and local investments over the course of 2018.
Notable investments last year include the acquisition of Bahrain-based H Al Dhaen Boats, the acquisition of 420 square kilometres of agricultural land for development in Sudan through the creation of a wholly-owned company, Khairat Al Bahrain, and a $100m investment in Al Waha Fund of Funds, which aims to provide financing to Bahraini start-ups.
Mr Alkooheji told The National in February he was eyeing double-digit revenue growth in 2019 due to an anticipated 50 per cent jump in revenue at Alba when the aluminium giant's Line 6 expansion project comes online later this year.
