Asian fund manager Navis Capital Partners is set to make the first investment by its recently formed $150 million Islamic private equity fund, named the CIMB Muamalat Fund, which has the right to co-invest with other Navis' funds on an equal basis. The fund is the first of its kind to give Shari'ah-conscious investors an exposure to Asia.
The investment involves the capitalization of an Asian regional holding company, to be owned 80 percent by the Navis funds, and 20 percent by a yet-undisclosed eyewear retailer. The first acquisition is of an optical chain of approximately 60 stores, predominantly in Malaysia. However, Navis expects to make further acquisitions of other eyewear retail chains across Asia and possibly the Middle East so that a ‘super-regional' chain of 500+ outlets will be established by 2006, according to a company press release.
“We should invest about $50 million in acquisitions and new store openings over the next four years,” commented Nicholas Bloy, one of Navis' founding partners. “Unlike the US or Western Europe, which are dominated by a handful of large chains, Asia remains very fragmented at the retail level.”
Navis is an Asian private equity fund manager, whose investors include pension funds, banks, insurance companies and other institutions from Europe, Asia, US and the Middle East. Navis Capital Partners was founded to make private equity investments in buyouts, recapitalizations and financial restructurings in Asia. Based in Kuala Lumpur, with a liaison office in Thailand, the firm focuses exclusively on Southeast Asia. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
