Global concludes successful exit from Emirates Retakaful Acquired by a subsidiary of AXA
KUWAIT: Global Investment House (Global), a regional asset management and investment banking firm headquartered in Kuwait, announced yesterday that its alternative asset management arm, Global Capital Management (“GCM”), has concluded a successful exit of its 20 percent stake in Emirates Retakaful.
Global and other shareholders representing a total ownership of 75 percent of Emirates Retakaful, have worked together during the past months to successfully conclude the exit transaction and transfer the ownership to the acquirer AXA Liabilities Managers, an AXA Group company specializing in non-life (re)insurance legacy business acquisition and management. The transaction was concluded at book value which is higher than the average multiples in the insurance sector in the GCC.
Sulaiman Mohammed Al-Rubaie, CEO of Global Investment House and Managing Partner of GCM commented on this exit: “We are extremely delighted to have completed this exit and provide our investors with liquidity in such challenging geopolitical and economic environment and the challenges the Retakaful has faced including regulatory changes in the regional markets and the down term in the international market in the last decade due to the overcapacity in the reinsurance market.”
GMFA acquired a significant minority stake in Emirates Retakaful (previously known as Al-Fajer Re) in 2009. Established in 2007, Al-Fajer Re was the first re-takaful company in Kuwait with a license to operate reinsurance business for all kinds of takaful insurance. Affected by numerous challenges faced by the company in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, significant restructuring efforts were undertaken by the members of the board representing GCM, which resulted in relocation of Al-Fajer Re operations to Dubai under the name of Emirate Re.
Al-Rubaie added: “We are proud to have successfully attracted international players into the regional re-insurance sector, thanks to the reinsurance international practices the company follows. We are confident that the commitment, track record and expertise of the acquirer will provide Emirates Retakaful with the required support and guidance”.
It is worth noting that since the new management of the private equity team took over in 2010, the team has successfully restructured the portfolio companies, put them on the growth path and enhanced their value. Till date, the team has also concluded 34 exits, the highest among all private equity firms in the region, and distributed more than $375 million to its clients, raising the total distributions since inception to more than $595 million.