Showing posts with label Abu Dhabi Financial Group. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abu Dhabi Financial Group. Show all posts

Monday, November 18, 2019

Getting To Know Mustafa Kheriba

Mustafa G. Kheriba

Opinion: The UAE's shift towards becoming a hub for financial innovation The country's financial sector shows how leading the pack leads to unprecedented value ....... The United Arab Emirates has emerged as a shining example of how a traditional oil powerhouse can diversify its sources of national revenues away from oil to other industries. ..... the banking sector in the UAE continues to be quite fragmented, with 23 domestic banks and 29 foreign institutions operating onshore, as well as a plethora of alternative finance companies that exist to serve SMEs and retail clients whom have exhausted traditional banking lines and offerings. ........ hydrocarbons sector will continue to be the compelling force behind anticipated growth for the near future ......... The UAE banking sector recently saw the merger of two dominant players, First Gulf Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi, creating one of the largest financial institutions regionally, with the breadth and scale to be competitive globally....... property markets across the emirates continuing to show softening trends in prices and depressed yields ....... Fintech is redefining modes of operation in the financial industry, and we are witnessing unprecedented levels of change and growth....... Fintech – which is now omnipresent in the industry – is providing the critical elements of swift action, more convenience and higher accessibility to the delivery of financial services. The influx is exceptionally transformational and continues to gain momentum........ The UAE has been at the forefront of such changes, with the introduction of e-banking, e-dirhams, online platforms and regulatory bodies such as the Abu Dhabi Global Markets and Dubai International Financial Centre serving as bright examples of how the country is becoming a hub for financial services innovations in the region. ........ as the country works towards a roadmap for the UAE’s centennial in 2071



THE GCC: OPPORTUNITY BORN FROM POSITIVE MOMENTUM Why the GCC is geared to become one of the most rewarding investment destinations in 2018 Sovereign wealth institutions in the region are among the wealthiest in the world, and the investment appetite for diversifying national sources of revenue has always been healthy. ....... we are seeing a fundamental change. The GCC is increasingly becoming a destination for capital deployment with ample opportunities for investment in various sectors such as hydrocarbons, healthcare, education and real estate to name a few. ........ The oil crisis has had a positive impact in allowing the regional regimes to explore new avenues of income. ...... A big theme I predict in 2018 is consolidation, as well as acquisitions outside of the region that will help with the diversification of funding sources and capital inflows. ...... the quiet before the storm of 2018. The region will see the best and fastest to come in the next few years........ The robust economies of the UAE and Saudi Arabia continue to lead the pack. ......... Saudi Arabia is in a positive momentum given the recent reforms implemented by HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Salman the Crown Prince. The fight against corruption surge that has been going on in the last few months has given great hope to the people and to the positive growth momentum of the economy in general. The initiatives are moving Saudi Arabia away from secular and rigid Islam, to more moderate and mainstream Islamic beliefs and practices.................... He has been named among the top 50 MENA Fund Managers in the 2015 and 2016 annual survey conducted by MENA FM. Mustafa holds a BA from the University of Toronto, and an MBA from Ohio Dominican University with Magna Cum Laude honours.


A LETTER FROM ABU DHABI On innovation and why Brexit does not represent erosion of value Abu Dhabi has been aspiring to be the Middle East and regional hub for everything from regulated financial services through setting up Abu Dhabi Global Market, to arts and culture and the highly anticipated opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. It is where we call home, and from where we aim at conquering the world........ Spending time in Riyadh at the Future Investment Initiative was both inspiring and aspirational. His Royal Highness Prince Mohammad bin Salman laid out what he sees as beyond the Vision 2030 to outline a new remarkable city, Neom, and a bright future for the Kingdom. ....... the adamancy that moderate Islam is the only way forward and the accepted path, while eradicating extremism was key .......... Today, and after only six years of launching the company out of Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG) has become synonymous with opportunistic investing and an astute deal making. Our platforms now expand across multiple geographies with a particular focus on public equities, private equity, real estate, debt and technology. Early in 2011 we launched the first secondary private equity fund that served to provide liquidity to an otherwise cash crunched microeconomic environment. The fund focused on limited partners who invested in regional funds. Good assets held by ailing investors was the key message that helped us realize handsome returns by acquiring these positions at significant discounts to their intrinsic value....... At over $5 billion of direct assets under management, ADFG is considered a serious contender and a market maker. One of our key calls to fame is our real estate development activities in the UAE and London. Today we stand as the largest private developer of new builds in prime central London with over £3 billion worth of projects underway.

The reality of real estate Real estate has always been the surest way to accumulate wealth – and is likely to remain so. Yet, the financial crisis of 2008 changed the game, and brought a healthy dose of reality back to the real estate sector. Today, as investors look at this asset class again with renewed optimism, we need to ask ourselves if we have truly learned the lessons of the past five years. ........ real estate has provided investors with a stronger and steadier return than any other investment option. It has an uncanny ability to bounce back after a downturn and outperform other asset classes......... The 2008 crisis was a case of the pursuit of profit crowding out sensible investment decision making. ....... Many lost vast sums of capital when property values plunged by half. ...... Abu Dhabi and Dubai real estate sales showed a significant upward trend from Q4 2011 to Q2 2012. Despite a slowdown during the third quarter, year-on-year activity was still higher, suggesting that Abu Dhabi and Dubai’s real estate market is well on the path to recover.......... and with the absence of property taxes and income tax, the value becomes extremely competitive, especially compared to other major cities around the world........ thanks to more people investing in completed projects rather than speculating on off-plan developments. ....... The UAE’s sophisticated regulatory milieu, highly developed financial infrastructure, and a legal system increasingly following rules of global best practices, provides a healthy investing environment for both home buyers and investors alike. In addition to the solid commercial infrastructure, the time is right to capitalise on the underlying value waiting to be unlocked in the UAE real estate sector.

























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Monday, October 28, 2019

Jassim Mohammed Al Seddiqi: Renaissance Man In The Gulf

Jassim Mohammed Al Seddiqi

https://www.marketscreener.com/business-leaders/Jassim-Mohammed-Al-Seddiqi-0C4FQM-E/biography/ He received a graduate degree from Cornell University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin.

https://www.gfh.com/board-of-director/jassim-alseddiqi/ He brings extensive investment expertise, and is known for his dynamic and innovative approach, having pioneered investment strategies in the region.


https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/18/cnbc-interview-with-abu-dhabi-financial-groups-ceo-jassim-alseddiqi.html

https://twitter.com/jassimalseddiqi

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1175136/business-economy In just a few years, Jassim Al-Seddiqi has become the “go to” financier in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, and made the company he runs — Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG) — one of the most important investing institutions in the Arabian Gulf. ………. Now Al-Seddiqi, 33, is increasingly switching his attention outside the UAE, and the new economic environment in Saudi Arabia is certain to play a big part in that global focus. “The Saudi privatization program and Saudi Aramco share sale will have a massive spillover effect for all of us,” the ADFG chief executive said. …….. ADFG has gone global in the real estate business, with high-end residential and commercial property, warehouses, shopping malls and hospitality assets across the UK, Middle East and Eastern Europe. …… The “Goldilocks” concept is a new one for regional investors. Al-Seddiqi aims to replicate the strategy of “activist shareholders,” where a shareholder actively influences management toward optimizing the value of the shares, which is something quite common in Western markets. He calls it “constructivism,” or constructive activism, and he has used the tactic in relation to Shuaa and to GFH Financial, the Bahrain-based firm whose shares are listed in Bahrain, Kuwait and Dubai. …….. “Typical opportunities which Goldilocks invests in are companies whose intrinsic values are not recognized by the public market due to complex corporate or capital structures, asset mispricings, under-researched or ‘below the radar’ coverage, inefficient management and the lack of industry or market expertise in extracting value. We seek to add value through board representation and management engagement while investing for the short- to medium-term,” Al-Seddiqi said. ……… Abu Dhabi could also be a model for how the Saudi Arabian financial center might develop over the coming years in the course of the Vision 2030 transformation away from an economy based on oil and public sector dependency. ……. the Kingdom’s $200 billion privatization program launched as part of the transformation program. …….. Lifting the driving ban was a very big thing ……… The Saudi economy is very important for the region. If you’re not involved there, you are not doing the job properly ……. Al-Seddiqi’s rise has been fast, and his ambition is big. One foreign banker in Abu Dhabi said: “He’s the rising force in the UAE financial scene, and could make ADFG into a regional financial powerhouse. He’s the face of the next generation in the Gulf.”

http://www.gfh-capital.com/board-of-director/jassim-al-siddiqi/

https://www.arabianbusiness.com/banking-finance/408595-master-of-the-turnaround Abu Dhabi Financial Group founding CEO Jassim Alseddiqi on what it takes to succeed - no matter what the economic conditions …….. how he’s gone about establishing and leading ADFG to become one of the largest private institutional investment houses in the Gulf region in just eight years. …….. ADFG has grown its assets under management to $20bn, with investments across platforms including debt, private equity, public markets, real estate and technology. And often there is a focus on special situations. Distressed debt? Bring it on. Event-driven situations requiring capital? Out comes the cheque book. “At the right price, we buy.” he insists. …….. We wait and see how markets or companies go up and down and then catch things as they fall ……. Bahrain-based investment bank GFH had lost 92 percent of its market value between 2008 and 2015. But since ADFG executed its turnaround strategy, the stock has gained 208 percent on a total returns basis. ……. “We call them fallen angels.” ……. ADFG is a brand that was born in adversity. …….. In November 2010, Alseddiqi was busy working with two colleagues to put together plans for a growth fund in the Middle East. “We prepared all the documents and in January 2011 we officially started the firm. And then the Arab Spring started,” he recalls. “So there went our growth thesis!” …….. Instead of rueing their bad luck, they pivoted to work with distressed opportunities. ……. “Those initial circumstances made it relatively easy for us to succeed in the subsequently difficult times that we have witnessed,” he says. ……. ADFG’s strong network, holistic platform and track record has made it easy to devise great opportunities that have become part and parcel of the firm’s operations. …….. “Origination sometimes is more important than execution and exit,” he adds. “It used to be more difficult in the past, especially when we started. But since everything was in shambles when we started, origination was really anything you touch.” ……. But what really goes wrong at these companies for them to land in trouble in the first place? The master of turnarounds chalks it all down to just the one thing: management. …… Asked if market conditions are also to blame, Alseddiqi’s response is an emphatic ‘no’. …… Turnaround tactics to weather these storms include the popular US-style zero-based budgeting process, leveraging the power of the ADFG network and its companies for business development, and a management overhaul. “Zero-based budgeting means you start from zero and then add incrementally to reach a stage where you can function, rather than starting with a budget and then cutting-down from it,” the CEO explains. “Turning around is really two things: stopping the bleeding – cost cutting – and then growing,” he adds. …….. In the case of Shuaa, for instance, ADFG took over the company’s board in the December of 2016 when it bought a 48 percent stake. Between 2009 and 2016, Shuaa had lost a total of AED2bn. “We looked at the cost of the firm,” Alseddiqi discloses. “Then we eliminated almost all the fat. But that doesn’t mean you are firing people. In fact, we have more people in Shuaa today than two years ago. We go for cost efficiencies, and we also started using our platform to give it the business. Plus we shut down some non-performing units and revived others that were failing.” ……. “We pushed and recovered assets from ex-management of about $500m, and we gave it a lot of business,” Alseddiqi says. “We supported their investment products by bringing clients to invest in them.” ……. The result, he adds, is that GFH is today the most profitable listed investment bank in the Middle East. …… “There’s nothing Middle Eastern about Abraaj,” he asserts, adding that it is “unfortunate” and “disappointing” that the scandal is being linked with the region. …… “It’s not like a gang of Middle Eastern people are running Abraaj. The board is made up mostly of Western figures and the team is not majority Middle Eastern. They have an office in New York, in London, in Columbia, Brazil, Singapore... the base is in the Cayman Islands. So what is Middle Eastern about Abraaj? ……. “If you invest in a growing company then you keep on growing,” he says. “But what’s special is turning around something. It proves that what was coal can also become a diamond.” ………. In addition to his prime designation at ADFG, Jassim Alseddiqi is also a sought-after board director and chairman for major companies, actively participating in the development of these companies’ strategic plans and leading their growth and development. …….. He was appointed to the advisory board of the MIT Technology Review Arabic and been an observer member of Hyperloop since 2017.










































Turnaround Artist

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In the first nine months of 2019, our revenues hit US$254 million – marking a 23.7% increase from the same period in 2018. Additionally, we recorded a net profit attributable to shareholders of US$73.6 million, indicating a growth of 61.4% from the same period in 2018 when excluding one-off recovery income and restructuring income in the first nine months of 2018. These results were supported by solid contributions from our diversified business lines, including our investment banking, real estate activities, treasury and proprietary investments. Follow the link in our bio for more details. خلال التسعة أشهر الأولى من عام 2019, بلغت إيراداتنا 254 مليون دولار أمريكي – و ذلك يمثل زيادة 23.7 ٪ عن نفس الفترة من عام 2018. بالإضافة إلى ذلك ، سجلنا ربحا صافياً يؤول إلى المساهمين قدره 73.6 مليون دولار أمريكي ، مما يشير إلى نمو بنسبة 61.4 ٪ مقارنة بنفس الفترة من عام 2018 مع استبعاد الدخل المحقق لمرة واحدة من الاسترداد وإعادة الهيكلة خلال التسعة أشهر الأولى من عام 2018. كانت هذه النتائج مدعومة بمساهمات قوية من خطوط أعمالنا المتنوعة ، بما في ذلك الخدمات المصرفية الاستثمارية وأنشطة العقارات والخزينة والاستثمارات الخاصة. للمزيد حول الأداء المالي للربع الثالث 2019 تفضل بزيارة الرابط في البايو. #DeliveringDistinction #TeamGFH

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