NBK Capital Partners, a unit of Kuwait's largest lender National Bank of Kuwait that advises on flexible capital to Mena mid-sized companies, has exited its inaugural $157 million private debt platform.
The NBK Capital Mezzanine Fund I returned 17 per cent gross internal rate of return on investments in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Turkey, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
The closure of the fund is the eighth successful investments exit in the portfolio of NBK Capital Partners.
The exit “builds on our track record that now totals 17 realisations from 29 investments, the highest number of profitable exits by an alternative investments firm in the region over the past decade,” said Yaser Moustafa, the senior managing director at NBK Capital Partners.
Raised in 2009, the hybrid debt and equity financing platform had served flexible long-term funding needs of mid-sized firms. Launched in the wake of the global financial crisis, the fund targeted companies that were unable to secure attractive terms with banks, constrained by regulatory and structural changes.
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The fund's mezzanine debt portfolio included UAE-based companies such as Eikon, Heriot Watt University of Scotland, Al Maaref Private School and Metito Utilities, the largest privately-owned water and wastewater treatment company in the Middle East. In Turkey, the fund invested in courier company Aras Cargo, Dem Pharmaceutical and Kilic Deniz, a leading aquaculture company.
Headquartered in the Dubai International Financial Centre, with a presence in in Bahrain, Kuwait and Turkey, NBK Capital Partners secured funding from regional endowments, pension funds, family offices, high net worth investors and affiliates of NBK Capital for the its investment vehicle.
