Dubai Investments sells stake in M’Sharie

Dubai Investments, the largest investment company listed on the Dubai Stock Exchange, has sold 40 percent of its stake in its private equity arm, M’Sharie, for AED 400 million (€74 million, $109 million) to a group of regional investors. It is unclear what size stake Dubai Investments had in the private equity firm, which owns majority stakes in 14 companies and has interests in two more companies through joint ventures.

The private placement, which values M’Sharie at AED 1 billion, was oversubscribed by more than 100 percent, according to the firm. Investors that have acquired an equity stake in M’Sharie include United Arab Emirates-based National Bonds Corporation, Al Mal Capital, The First Investor and Al Arif Investment, Bahrain-based Gulf International Bank and Saudi Arabia-based Abdulaziz Alajlan Sons and Ali Bin Hassan Dayekh. Gulf International Bank also served as the placement agent for the transaction.

“The private placement of M’Sharie is a strategic move aimed at establishing a strong presence for the company with the GCC [The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf] market and ensuring its continual growth by offering shareholding to a select group of investors from the UAE and the GCC,” Khalid Kalban, chief executive of Dubai Investments, said in a statement.

M’Sharie was established in 1998 and owns companies in the Gulf region, including Emirates Extrusion Factory, Emirates Thermostone Company, Gulf Dynamic Switchgear Company and Gulf Metal Craft. The firm focuses on medium to large companies in the Middle East region.

Like internationally-focused private equity investment group Dubai International Capital, Dubai Investments is a subsidiary of Dubai Holding, which is backed by the Dubai government.