In our new series of daily in-house reports, IFN brings to you a weekly focus on a particular fund or firm that we believe is innovating, making waves, or driving forward the industry. This week, LAUREN MCAUGHTRY highlights a familiar name that has in recent months initiated a spate of activity set to leave a mark in the Islamic asset management and investment space.
EIIB-Rasmala is a long-established and committed player in the Middle East for 15 years and has one of the region’s most successful institutional investment track records, focused on increasingly compelling MENA-GCC investment opportunities. “We consider ourselves a unique and ‘specialist’ asset manager,” explained Eric Swats, the head of asset management, to IFN, “due to the combination of our Shariah compliant focus and our physical ‘dual hub’ regional presence in both London and Dubai — linking two of the global capitals of Islamic finance”.
In a clear demonstration of the growing demand for Shariah compliant investment offerings, the firm recently crossed the US$1.2 billion mark for funds under management, with business growing by an impressive 300% in a period of two years. “We continue to see strong demand and interest from new clients who are drawn to the wider and more diversified investment choices and products we are creating,” confirmed Swats.
Currently, activities are focused on a number of core product areas including equity and fixed income/Sukuk; along with some new real estate investment products and funds; and several exciting new asset classes such as trade finance and leasing. Its two most recent Shariah compliant products, the Rasmala Leasing Fund and the Rasmala Trade Finance Fund, have been so popular that during July the frequency of investor subscriptions/redemptions was increased from bi-weekly to daily; while Swats tells us that their investment guidelines were also recently amended, “to provide the fund managers with additional flexibility to pursue attractive opportunities within the sub-investment grade segment of the fixed income market”. As of the 14th August 2014, the limit on sub-investment grade exposure has been raised from 25% to 50% of the funds’ net asset value.
In addition to these new products, IFN has also learned that EIIB-Rasmala is in the process of re-domiciling all its key funds (including the Rasmala Global Sukuk Fund and Rasmala GCC Islamic Equity Income Fund) from the Cayman Islands to Luxembourg, within a SICAV Umbrella Fund structure. “A broad Lux-domiciled Fund range will allow for the expansion of our distribution strategy to include international markets like Switzerland, the UK, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Africa,” said Swats.
The firm is now turning its sights to African skies, with plans to enter the market in this second half of the year, as it sees these frontier markets as becoming increasingly attractive to institutional investors. A pioneer in the Islamic investment space, we can look forward to exciting times ahead from this small but successful self-starter.
Rasmala Leasing Fund (Initial closing December 2012, final closing March, 2014)
Rasmala Trade Finance Fund |