Fundraising

Millennium Private Equity completes first close on two funds

The Middle Eastern private equity firm has raised $200m and $150m for two of the seven sector-focussed funds it plans to raise. It is targeting $5bn across the seven funds.

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Millennium Private Equity, a subsidiary of Dubai-based investment bank Millennium Finance Corporation, has completed the first round of fundraising for its energy and telecoms, media and technology funds.

The firm raised $200 million (€126 million) from its sponsors for the Global Energy Fund and $150 million for its TMT Fund. The Dubai Islamic Bank, United Gulf Bank and the multilateral development financing institution Islamic Development Bank have committed $50 million to each of the two funds. Kuwait Finance House, a Kuwaiti investment bank, has made a commitment of $50 million to the energy fund, the firm said in a statement.

The two funds are each targeting commitments of $1 billion for their final close.

Izzet Güney, senior executive officer at Millennium Private Equity, said in a statement that the commitments made by the sponsors from across the region reflect on “their confidence in the sector-specific strategy… and the growing exit opportunities that maturing regional and broader Islamic capital markets offer”.

The firm’s energy fund will look to make the most of the opportunities arising from Asia’s rapidly growing demand for energy, and it will capitalise on its location in Dubai, between a “resource-hungry Asia and a resource-rich Africa,” the firm said.

The TMT fund will invest in products and services in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, in areas that are characterised by an imbalance between the penetration levels of telecoms, media and technology products, and their high demand.

Both funds will invest between $20 million and $100 million per deal.

The energy and TMT funds are part of a family of seven private equity funds that Millennium Private Equity is developing. It is looking to raise a total of $5 billion for the seven sector-focussed funds, the other five of which will be launched soon and will focus on infrastructure, real estate, health and education, natural resources and financial institutions.

Millennium Private Equity was established in 2006 by Dubai Islamic Bank and Dubai World, the holding company of ports operator Dubai Ports.