Global Buyout Fund distributes 3% cash dividends to its investors

Global Buyout Fund, a private equity fund managed by the alternative investment funds' arm of Global, invests in buyout opportunities in the MENA region as well as in Turkey, China and South Asia.

Mr. Shailesh Dash, Managing Partner at Global Capital Management said: "Most of the Fund's portfolio companies have reflected strong performance and have declared dividends.

For 2008, Al Jazeera Steel Products Company reported a significant growth of 76% in its revenue on a year on year basis. Despite adverse economic conditions in the last quarter of 2008, the company was able to grow its 2008 net profit by around 7%.

Planet Pharmacies top line grew by around 51% while its bottom line increased by more than 125% in 2008 versus 2007. As the Company operates in the health sector, it has a recession resistant business model; In fact, it's striving to continue this pace of growth in 2009.

2008 has also been a remarkable year for Jassim Transport and Stevedoring Corporation in terms of growth in its business and generation of record profits. The company's top line grew by 25% and net income by 28% in 2008 versus 2007.

Mr. Dash added:

"We have adopted a two pronged strategy for the Fund's returns; our prime focus is to increase the intrinsic value of its investments through hands on approach; we also simultaneously strive to give our investors some regular returns. Along with the return, we also focus on reducing overall portfolio risk through diversification. As a case in point, at present, all the Fund's investments are in different sectors and countries."

He also informed: "We aim to exit some of the investments through listings in 2010 / 2011 as most of these companies would have reached critical mass by then; these exits would enable us to give good returns to our investors."

The Private Equity Funds group at Global currently manages about $3bn of private equity assets for clients. The team is one of the largest teams in the MENA region with about 45 well qualified professionals comprising of 12 nationalities, providing a local perspective for deals in all target markets. The team has a cumulative work experience of over 300 years ranging from private equity, investment banking, advisory, venture capital, financial research, credit rating and audit across varied sectors.

The team has invested nearly $1.5bn in 55 transactions across 11 sectors in Middle East and North Africa, Turkey, South Asia & China during past 4 years.

The team has also successfully managed 16 exits generating an IRR of around 67% as of December 2008 for its existing investor base which comprises international and MENA institutional investors.

It is worth mentioning that Global Capital Management's achievements have been recognized at product and deal level through awards such as Fund of the Year for 2007 and 2008, as well as Private Equity Deal of the Year for 2008 by Terrapinn.

Recently, Private Equity International has also ranked Global Capital Management as one of the top 150 private equity firms in the world and top 20 in Asia.