Spain Oman PE Fund launched

MUSCAT: The Advisory and Investment Committees of the Spain Oman Private Equity Fund began their activities on Sunday in Muscat. Senior management of Spain’s COFIDES and Oman’s State General Reserve Fund (SGRF), as well as members of MCH, which is a private equity firm selected by COFIDES and SGRF following an open tender. The fund has effectively launched its operations and started making progress in exploring business opportunities through MCH.

SGRF and FIEX/COFIDES are the sole investors of the fund (along with the additional commitment of MCH). It involves a 50/50 joint investment by Oman and the Spanish public sector. SPAIN-OMANCOFIDES/FIEX-SGRF. Investment Fund came in the wake of the Mous signed in different fields during the royal visit of His Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain to Oman in 2014.

The fund will invest in Spanish mid-cap companies that have international growth plans and interests in benefiting both countries while initially focusing in Oman and Spain. The focus sectors of the fund are construction materials, manufacturing, mining, tourism, logistics, health, infrastructure, energy, food and agribusiness.

The Fund will allow Oman to benefit from the experience and technological knowhow of Spanish companies through the creation of employment, technology transfer and investment profitability. It will also provide Spanish companies with a new financing instrument to encourage their expansion abroad, the consolidation and growth of the parent company and, at the same time, contribute to the development of Oman and Spain.

The State General Reserve Fund (SGRF) was established by Royal Decree 1/80 in 1980. It has a diversified portfolio of asset types in more than 40 countries around the world. COFIDES is a combined private-public concern, which since 1988 has provided financial support to Spanish enterprises abroad. COFIDES manages the FIEX and FONPYME funds on behalf of the State Secretariat for Trade, within The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism.