- Saudi PE Firm Shares Insights At Second Limited Partners’ Meeting in Istanbul; International Expert Predict Regional and Global Trends
Quantitative easing is necessary to support the global economy, but it is destabilizing the MENA region through food price inflation, according to internationally acclaimed investment guru Richard Duncan, Chief Economist at Blackhorse Asset Management in Singapore and author of the international bestseller “The Dollar Crisis: Causes, Consequences, Cure”.
Duncan was addressing a high profile audience of investors in Istanbul on the occasion of the Annual Limited Partner (LP) meeting for Amwal II, the second partnership of Riyadh headquartered Amwal AlKhaleej – one of the MENA region’s leading private equity firms with offices in Dubai and Cairo and US$ 700 million of assets under management.
According to Duncan, while credit growth has driven economic growth for decades, only additional credit growth can prevent the “Great Recession” from becoming a “New Depression”. He expects stocks and commodities to drop until this quantitative easing starts, but once launched Duncan anticipates that the dollar will fall, while gold and oil will rise.
Also present at the event were Amwal AlKhaleej’s co-founders, professional team, and the firm’s limited partners including Dr. Fahad Al-Mubarak, the newly appointed governor of the Saudi Arabian Monterey Agency (SAMA), and members from AlMuhaidib Group, AlFozan Group, Alissa Group, Al-Saghyir Group and Goldman Sachs.
Commenting on the event, Ammar AlKhudairy, Managing Partner, Amwal AlKhaleej said: “2011 was a positive year for Amwal AlKhaleej, and this meeting with our LPs gave us the opportunity to reflect on our successes and plot our way forward for 2012. We were also happy to announce that Amwal AlKhaleej recently received the prestigious ‘’Best Performing MENA Private Equity Fund” award at the 2011 Private Equity World MENA Awards as well as “Deal of the Year” award in conjunction with Gulf Capital, highlighting our some of our key accomplishments 2011.”
The firm’s second partnership, Amwal II outperformed its peers in 2011 in terms of outcome and distribution, notably without the use of any leverage. The firm’s outlook for MENA private equity in 2012 remains cautiously optimistic despite the challenges posed by the recent regional social and political unrest.
