NCB Capital, the investment arm of National Commercial Bank - the Saudi Arabia's biggest bank by assets - plans to launch four investment funds this year and target up to 15 percent growth in assets under management, its chief executive said. Jawdat Al-Halabi said NCB Capital, which has SR44 billion ($11.7 billion, EGP 70.85 billion) in assets under management, will launch the funds in the second half of the year, with two aimed at foreign markets and two domestically focused. "We will launch two new (international) funds ... a mix between equities, commodities and sukuk (Islamic bond). The initial target for these two open-ended funds would be around $30 million per each and we hope we can raise more," Halabi said. It recently entered into a global strategic alliance with the Trust Company of the West (TCW) and Amundi to manage its international equity funds and aid the expansion of its products and services internationally. The alliance will create one of the largest and most diversified Islamic Shariah fund platforms in the world. The domestic funds will invest in small- and medium-sized businesses in Saudi Arabia as well as real estate, The Saudi Gazzette Halabi said the alliance was a "perfect match" and would help the Saudi company spread its Islamic products in global markets and enable it to tap global markets as they recover. "In Europe and the US, there is a significant Muslim population and there is a fast growing demand (for Islamic products)," he said. NCB Capital is helping arrange two domestic initial public offerings on the Saudi market this year, Halabi said, though he declined to give details except that they would be "small to medium in size." Halabi said there is a strong demand for sukuk issuances in the Kingdom and that NCB is keen to tap this market to boost its wealth management platform. "There is a need for more sukuk issuances, the market is developing but still very nascent. This is an area we have a lot of interest in ... to support out wealth management portfolios. "The demand is more on the project side," he said referring to the need to finance huge investment in infrastructure and development projects.
