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DIC planning to set up $15b investment fund

DUBAI — Dubai International Capital (DIC) is in talks with four other partners to set up a $15 billion fund to make strategic international investments, said Sameer Al Ansari, chief executive of Dubai International Capital in Davos yesterday.

Dubai International Capital, a part of Dubai Holding, said yesterday that the company is in talks with four other partners about setting up the fund as early as April this year.

Earlier during the day, Dubai International Capital's CEO told Bloomberg in Davos, Switzerland, where he's attending the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum that the fund is being set up for international investments.

The partners will invest as much as $3 billion and borrow the rest to finance purchases, he said, without identifying the partners.

The fund, to which Dubai will contribute the most, will invest in the world's top 100 companies. Last year, DIC had invested $1 billion in DaimlerChrysler, making it the company's third largest shareholder, followed by the $1.5 billion acquisition of The Tussauds Group in the UK — the largest operator of visitor attractions in Europe. The string of international investments that followed include the launch of Jordan Dubai Capital, a $280 million investment company targeting opportunities in the Jordanian economy and a 47 per cent stake in a company formed by a consortium of 12 investors that will invest $150 million to finance 20 Express by Holiday Inn Hotels across the GCC.

In Mid-December 2005, the company signed an agreement to acquire UK-based Doncasters Group Limited for Dh4.5 billion from Royal Bank of Scotland Equity Finance (RBEF).

In addition to its growing portfolio of international investments, DIC also has local projects such as the 'Dubai Yachting' project launched to create new destination for global yachting enthusiasts.

The project will include a best-in-the-world marina for yachts and will involve purchase of 50 yachts.

Driven by the high liquidity and the oil-induced economic boom, a number of UAE-based investment companies are making big-ticket acquisitions in the international market.

Istithmar's acquisition of London's One Trafalgar Square for £155 million, followed many such acquisitions by subsidiaries of Dubai Holdings. Currently, DP World, a part of Dubai's PCFC Group, is engaged in a takeover battle with Singapore's PSA for the control of British ports and ferry operator P&O.

Economists and financial analysts expect GCC investors to acquire substantial foreign assets this year.

The exceptionally large oil export receipts will lead to substantial fiscal stimulus in the region which will result in huge government spending in the GCC region this year, said a recent research by International Institute of Finance (IIF).

“The GCC is in the midst of a period of exceptional economic performance. We are now forecasting aggregate GDP to expand by more than one-third for 2005 and 2006, while foreign assets are estimated to rise in these two years by more than $360 billion,” the report said.