NBK launches a new Kuwait Equity Fund

The Fund's investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in Kuwaiti domiciled, listed equities.

NBK's Investment Services & Treasury Group General Manager, Salah Al-Fulaij, explained that the Fund is a long-term investment vehicle designed to outperform the Kuwaiti benchmark. The Fund is denominated in Kuwaiti Dinars and suitable for investors with a long-term investment horizon and an appetite for risk.

The Fund will pursue its objectives by overweighting constituents that the Investment Manager believes have a reasonable chance of outperforming the benchmark, underweighting constituents that may underperform the benchmark as well as investing in securities that are not part of the benchmark, but which could outperform the benchmark. Furthermore, the Investment Manager will look to increase the cash allocation of the Fund during weak market conditions or downturns. The Fund will invest primarily in equities with strong fundamentals and good long-term prospects.

The Initial Offering Period starts today, March 25th 2007, and will continue until April 12th 2007. The minimum investment amount in the Fund is KD 30,000 with additional amounts in multiples of KD 1,000. The Fund is open-ended and investors can subscribe to the Fund on a monthly basis after the end of the Initial Offering Period.