Friday 29 March 2024
 
»
 
»
Story

La Française eyes Mideast real estate securities market

DUBAI, April 12, 2018

Global real estate securities investment firm company La Française has signed a strategic deal with US-based IdealRatings to establish its long-term presence in the Middle East region and developing innovative investment solutions with and for GCC institutional investors.

With 596 professionals and offices in Paris and Frankfurt, La Française has been developing core competencies in third party asset management for the last 40 years, while IdealRatings is a market leader in Islamic capital markets and a solutions provider for responsible investment solutions.

Following the creation of the first Sharia compliant OPCI (collective direct real estate investment vehicle) dedicated to institutional investors in 2012, La Française Forum Securities had set up its first Sharia-compliant Real Estate Securities in Kuwait.

La Française Forum Securities is one of the few listed real estate investment specialists to offer an investment solution that associates the firm’s cycle-tested expertise in global real estate securities with the Sharia screening capabilities of IdealRatings.

Jana Sehnalova, the managing director of La Française Forum Securities and portfolio manager, said: "We have worked on developing this unique investment strategy for a few years and are very pleased to be able to bring it to life and offer institutional investors with an Islamic finance focus, from the Middle East and South East Asia or elsewhere."

"We are giving them an opportunity to diversify their asset allocation with Sharia compliant real estate securities; this asset class is starting to be attractively valued again, with double digit discounts to NAV, and an ability to identify and exploit mispricing between public and private real estate markets globally," stated Sehnalova.

"Recognizing the potential interest in this strategy, we are also investigating with Groupe La Francaise the viability of developing a fund as part of the existing product line being managed by the group," noted the top official.

La Française Forum Securities helps define the global real estate securities universe and will select securities with an above average risk adjusted total return, from a Sharia-screened pool of about 150 securities.

The portfolio is a concentrated one, with about 30 to 50 stocks, he noted.

IdealRatings CEO and President Mohammad Donia said: "We are excited to partner with a global leader like La Francaise, who strategised with us to break the barriers and create a new, innovative product solution for the Islamic Asset Management Industry and Islamic Capital Markets."

Based in San Francisco, IdealRatings covers more than 40,000 listed companies/securities, including some 2,000 real estate securities, in more than 150 countries.-TradeArabia News Service




Tags: Mideast |

More Construction & Real Estate Stories

calendarCalendar of Events

Ads