RIYADH, 3 July 2007 — NCB Capital, the investment banking, securities and asset management arm of the National Commercial Bank, has completed the process of underwriting and placing the amount of $150 million invested by clients into the Oryx Korean Private Equity Fund, a private placement, which invests in South Korea’s IT and other technology sectors. The fund, which is now closed, has an initial life of five years with the option of two one-year extensions.
“The Oryx Korea Fund attracted the immediate attention of investors who are constantly on the lookout for this type of Shariah compliant, world class investment opportunities that are a specialty of NCB Capital,” Sami Abdo, managing director of investment services at NCB Capital, said yesterday.
“The fund was a fast sell-out because investors were quick to recognize the strength of South Korea’s economy and its growing and dynamic technology sectors, and welcomed the opportunity to participate in a private equity fund that is under the trusted sponsorship of NCB Capital,” he added.
“Another strong attraction is global portfolio diversification,” Abdo said. “At NCB Capital we search far and wide to continually expand our product offering in order to provide our clients with a diversified range of innovative investment opportunities that comply with Shariah investment principles.”
Starting out by offering the best investment advisory, investment banking, asset management underwriting and brokerage services in the region, NCB Capital is the first Saudi banking subsidiary to be granted a license by the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA) to provide investment and asset management services under the CMA mandate that all Saudi banks must separate their investment and asset management activities from their commercial banking business.
