MENA Infrastructure, a private equity firm jointly owned by HSBC, Dubai-based Fajr Capital and Abu Dhabi's Waha Capital, aims to make its first foray into Turkey next year. It plans to raise $500 million for its second sharia-compliant fund, MENA Infrastructure Fund II, which will primarily invest in energy and infrastructure firms in the Gulf and Turkey. "There's plenty to do there, in energy, power generation, transport and social infrastructure," Jeronimo Roura, the fund's chief executive, said of the Turkish economy. "One of the key success factors is finding the right partner. There are a number of local, diversified conglomerates with good strategies." The fund has identified four potential deals in Turkey, in which it will invest up to 20 percent of its total fund size. Fajr Capital, which will manage the second fund with Waha Capital, has the governments of Malaysia, Abu Dhabi and Brunei as shareholders. "Islamic finance is playing an increasingly important role in the financing of large-scale infrastructure projects," said Iqbal Khan, Fajr Capital's chief executive. "The uniqueness of Islamic finance allows for conventional investors to also participate in infrastructure funding, thereby making it an inclusive financing option with a broader appeal." Malaysia's sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional, which has invested over $1 billion in Turkey and holds a controlling stake in that country's largest hospital chain, may invest directly in MENA Infrastructure II or work towards a joint investment with the fund, said Roura. The new fund will start marketing to investors in Europe, the Middle East and southeast Asia this month. It has listed 24 potential targets for its investment period of five years, though it will only execute up to ten deals worth between $50 million and $100 million each. "That's to give investors a flavour of what we're looking at and what we can do, but the pipeline will change as opportunities will come and go," Roura said. The new fund hopes to land its first transaction shortly after securing a first round of investors in March 2015. The company's first fund, the $300 million MENA Infrastructure Fund, has bought stakes in firms across Egypt, Oman and Saudi Arabia. "It is essentially a continuation in the strategy of the first fund, with the inclusion of Turkey, and a larger fund size to execute larger deals," said Roura. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/110576.aspx
