Recording a return of 21% in the first 4 months of 2008
Palestine Dedicated Fund is ranked amongst the Top 5 performing Funds in the Middle East
• Samhouri: The Fund presents an ideal opportunity for investors seeking to diversify their portfolios and to gain exposure to a market with a significant potential for growth.
Global Investment House “Global” announced today that the Palestine Dedicated Fund was ranked amongst the top 5 performing funds in the Middle East according to a research conducted by Zawya, in which the fund recorded a return of 21% for the first four months of 2008.
Mr. Talal Samhouri, Head of MENA Asset Management at Global said, "The Palestine Dedicated Fund is a country dedicated fund established to capitalize on the growth prospects of the Palestinian economy along with the attractive valuations of the Palestinian companies.”
He continued that the good performance of the Fund was the result of our superior research capabilities and stock selection strategy that we have adopted supported by the good performance of the
Palestinian stock market.
He added that the Fund was also able to benefit from the low correlation between the Palestinian and MENA equity markets, which helped it sustain its year to date growth, uninterrupted by the early year sell offs in the major Arabian markets such as Saudi Arabia and Dubai.
The outlook for the Palestinian equity market continues to be bullish despite the significant year-to-date appreciation in the market. Palestine’s stock market is among the best performing markets worldwide year-to-date rising 35% compared to declines of 1.66% and 3.06% for the MSCI Arabian Markets Index and MSCI Emerging Markets Index respectively.
Mr. Samhouri pointed out that the current environment continues to be supportive of further price appreciation citing that the first quarter of 2008 earnings have been extremely impressive with aggregate growth of 85% year-on-year, outperforming all other markets in the MENA, despite the challenging political environment."
Despite such performance, Palestinian equities are trading at 10.5x forecasted 2008 earnings and at a significant discount to the average P/E in the MENA of 15.2x , offering an ideal entry point into the Fund for investors looking for portfolio diversification and capital growth.
On the political front, Samhouri believes that any improvement in the political situation will be a trigger for exceptional performance. In addition, the reforms implemented so far by the Palestine National Authority are expected to contribute significantly to putting the Palestinian economy on the road to sustainable economic growth.
It is worth noting that Global currently manages more than 38 investment funds with diversified strategies and investment objectives, most of which have outperformed their respective indices.
