RIYADH, 22 May 2007 — Jadwa Investment has partnered with Russell Investment Group yesterday to offer clients an entirely new breed of Shariah-compliant investment solution.
To date Shariah investors have only had access to a relatively small number of asset managers who offer suitable investment products.
Since most of the best fund managers in the world do not manage Shariah-compliant mandates, Russell and Jadwa aim to change this.
Russell has over $200 billion in assets under management, advises clients worldwide whose assets represent approximately $2 trillion, and has more than 30 years experience researching the world’s leading investment managers. Last year alone, Russell conducted 4500 meetings with managers around the world — nearly 17 meetings every business day. Through Russell’s unparalleled access to and understanding of fund managers, Russell aims to utilize some of the best asset management talent in the world to manage Shariah mandates, most of whom will be new to Shariah investing. Jadwa understands the requirements of Shariah investors and has been set up specifically to address those needs.
The combination of Jadwa, Russell and a board of pre-eminent Shariah scholars will ensure that all the managers selected by Russell conform to a singularly high standard of Shariah-compliant investing.
So investors not only have access to some of the best talent in the global money management industry working for them, but also the peace of mind that all these managers are managing their money to the same exacting standard of Shariah investing — the best of both worlds.
On this occasion, Ahmed Al-Khateeb, managing director & CEO of Jadwa Investment said: “We have selected Russell to be our partner after intensive study and research of global investment companies, and Russell is by far the best in the world. We are very happy about this joint venture, as this will add significant value to Jadwa’s offering in particular, and the world of Islamic investments as a whole. This partnership allows our clients to have access to the world’s leading multi-manager provider, while enabling Jadwa to reach global markets. In addition, the funds that we will be offering through the Russell Jadwa partnership, are considered a new innovation in the field of Islamic investment.”
Frédéric Jolly, CEO of Russell Investment Group in Europe, the Middle East and Africa added: “Russell guides the investment of some of the largest and most sophisticated pools of capital in the world. We are very excited about our partnership with Jadwa and the prospect of being able to apply our extensive investment expertise to Shariah investing. We are particularly impressed by the caliber of Jadwa’s management team and shareholders and are confident that together we will develop one of the leading Shariah-compliant global investment platforms in the Islamic investment world.”
At the outset Russell and Jadwa will launch a global developed markets equity fund and a global emerging markets equity fund.
He also said that it is “our intention that the Russell-Jadwa Shariah-based funds and the number of managers represented on the platform will grow rapidly.”
