MIDAF Fund outperforms 'bullish' Kuwait market

During the 12 months to 31 July 2005, Markaz Fund for Investment & Development (MIDAF) which mainly invests in Kuwaiti equities posted a 61.8 per cent return on investment compared with 49.4 per cent for the Kuwait Investment Company (KIC) Index. The 37.5 per cent return on investment generated by the Kuwait market since January 2005 on the back of rising oil prices and high liquidity was surpassed by MIDAF which achieved a 45.5 per cent return.

Markaz Executive Vice President (Local & GCC Investments), Mr Sami Alhasawi said "the immediate outlook for Kuwaiti companies is positive given the strong macroeconomic environment and the allocation of US$2.89 billion [KD850 million] by the Kuwaiti Government for large projects including a new airport. While volatility on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) has fallen relatively in recent months, MIDAF Fund continues to outperform the market and achieve its objective of long-term capital appreciation through its exposure to shares of fundamentally healthy companies," said Mr Al Hassawi.

"Investment risk is spread across a range of sectors including services, industrial, banks, real estate, food and insurance," he said.

MIDAF's equity investments include Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC), Public Warehousing Company (PWC) and United Real Estate Company, all of which have outperformed the market in 2005.

Mr Alhasawi said "MIDAF is an actively managed fund that provides investors with exposure to 30 to 40 stocks listed on the KSE that have the potential to meet strict performance criteria, thus enabling the fund to achieve its long-term capital growth objective.

"Researching opportunities involves rigorous fundamental analysis supported by technical analysis. An emphasis is also placed on recruiting experienced fund managers with international expertise. The combination of sound research and high quality management gives the Markaz team a competitive advantage," he said.

"Markaz's innovative approach to fund management involves aggressively identifying emerging investment opportunities and creating investment vehicles to take advantage of these opportunities," Mr Alhasawi said.

"All Markaz funds are managed to achieve clear objectives which allows investors to tailor their investment portfolios to match acceptable risk-return parameters," he said.

The value of MIDAF units recently pushed past KD4 per unit compared with a face value of KD1 per unit. The minimum investment in the open-ended fund is 1,000 units.