Arcapita sale of South Staffordshire exceeds expected returns
Arcapita Bank B.S.C.(c), a leading international investment firm headquartered in Bahrain, announced today that it and its affiliates have completed the sale of South Staffordshire Plc, the UK based water company, to the Alinda Infrastructure Fund.
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| Atif A. Abdulmalik, Arcapita's Chief Executive Officer. |
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Over the three year holding period, the investment has delivered more than double the original targeted rate of return to investors.
Arcapita acquired South Staffordshire in November 2004. Since then, Arcapita has worked closely with the management team as they have developed the regulated and non-regulated sides of the business. The regulated business has been consistently ranked in the top three in Ofwat's performance assessment for the past seven years and has 99.97% compliance with EU water quality standards. The three non-regulated businesses, which include a customer contact management operation in Belfast and specialist water & wastewater businesses, have grown fast and were a major factor in achieving the excellent returns for investors.
Atif A. Abdulmalik, Arcapita's Chief Executive Officer, said
'This is the second exit from our European Asset-based business since September, both of which have both outperformed significantly. We are pleased at the performance of the portfolio overall, and although the current environment in the credit markets is holding down valuations, in the last 3 months we have completed exits with a transaction value of more than $1.5bn.'
Asim Zafar, Global Head of Asset-Based Investments commented, 'In general, the attraction of asset-based investments is the prospect of stable returns throughout the holding period. In addition, South Staffordshire achieved good growth in its unregulated businesses, which has enhanced the overall return very satisfactorily. We will continue to evaluate further opportunities in this popular asset class across all regions, in response to high demand from our investors.'
Log in to request more information from Arcapita
Notes and media contacts
For further information, please contact:
Jon Earl, Financial Dynamics
Tel: +973 17 537 072
Mob: +973 39 300 851
Tim Doyne, Arcapita Bank B.S.C.(c)
Tel: +973 17 218 333
Mob: +973 39 929 009
About Arcapita Bank
Headquartered in Bahrain with offices in Atlanta, London and Singapore, Arcapita's four principal lines of business are corporate investment, real estate investment, asset-based investment and venture capital. To date, Arcapita has completed 63 transactions with a total value of almost $21bn and has an equity capital base in excess of $950m. Arcapita's mission is to provide innovative and distinctive investment opportunities that generate superior risk-adjusted returns whilst adhering to Islamic principles.
About South Staffordshire Plc
South Staffordshire Plc ('South Staffordshire'), a United Kingdom based water utility group, owns regulated operations in the water sector ('South Staffordshire Water'), together with complementary non-regulated businesses.
South Staffordshire Water, the principal subsidiary of South Staffordshire, supplies water to a population of 1.25m in the British Midlands, covering an area of 1,500 square kilometers, as well as supplying water to 36,000 commercial customers. South Staffordshire also owns three water related non-regulated businesses. Echo provides outsourced customer contact management and billing activities for a number of water utility customers and develops and implements customer contact and billing software for the UK water industry. Water and Wastewater Services provides a range of specialist water and sewerage infrastructure maintenance services to the UK water sector and other owners of water related infrastructure Aqua Direct is a natural spring and mineral water business.
Full details of South Staffordshire can be found www.south-staffordshire.com
About Alinda
Alinda Infrastructure Fund is a leading independent infrastructure fund that invests infrastructure assets which provide essential services to communities, governments and businesses. To date, Alinda has made investments in a wide range of infrastructure assets in Europe and North America, including gas utilities, roads, airports, rail, and water tanks, with an aggregate transaction value of $5.7bn.
Further details of Alinda can be found at www.alinda.com
Posted by Anne-Birte Stensgaard, Senior News EditorSunday, November 18 - 2007 at 11:23 UAE local time (GMT+4)
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