Al Mal Capital announces dividend distribution in its flagship products – Al Mal UAE & MENA Equity Fund

Al Mal Capital, a subsidiary of Dubai Investments PJSC and a diversified, multi-line investment institution licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE, has announced the first cash dividend for its flagship product – Al Mal MENA Equity Fund. The MENA Fund will distribute USD 29 cents per unit yielding 3.5%.

Al Mal MENA Equity Fund has posted an impressive 10 year track record of successfully investing and delivering consistent returns to its unitholders. Year till date as of July 17, the Fund has generated 9.1% total returns, outperforming the benchmark by 5.1%.

Al Mal Capital is also distributing the second cash dividend for its flagship product – Al Mal UAE Equity Fund.  The UAE Fund will distribute 5.0 Fils per unit yielding 3.7%. The UAE Fund posted an impressive 11 year track record of successfully investing and delivering consistent returns to unitholders. For the 12 months ending July 17, the Fund has generated a total return of 10.2%. Year till date, the Fund has outperformed the benchmark by 5.0%.

The UAE and MENA Funds will distribute cash dividends to all its unitholders with entitlement date being August 23, 2017 and the distribution date will be August 31, 2017. By distributing cash dividends, the objective is to maintain returns that are higher than term deposit rates, whilst continuing to offer high potential for capital appreciation.

Commenting on the dividend, Marwan Haddad, Lead Fund Manager, Asset Management at Al Mal Capital, said: “We have revamped our investment strategies for UAE & Middle East to focus more on the dynamics behind the companies we invest in. The new strategy we are following is a high conviction deep research approach, maintaining 3 to 5 years’ investment horizon. The bulk of our portfolio will consist of names under which the management plays a pivotal role in driving the business and consistently showing superior capital allocation capabilities. We also like undervalued companies where the market value is lower than the business intrinsic value. We are pleased with current economic development across the region and believe 2017 will prove to be an inflection point. Since its inception, the UAE Fund has outperformed its benchmark, the S&P UAE Index by 75.6%.”

In recognition of its top-tier performance, the Fund has won several awards and nominations; the recent one being the nomination for the MENA Fund Manager Award for UAE Equity Fund of the Year: 1-year and 3-year performance in 2016.

As for the MENA Fund, it has outperformed its benchmark, the S&P Pan Arab Large Cap Index by 24.2%.  “Middle East equities have been so far neglected as a destination of capital. However, some catalysts are expected to invert this trend. For instance, the capital markets and economic reforms in Saudi Arabia will be a game-changer for the region. Moreover, we continue to see many strong companies with reasonable valuations in the UAE and some GCC countries at a time where some developed markets look expensive. Importantly, Middle East equities remain under-covered, and under-owned by global asset allocators. This creates ample alpha opportunities for astute fund managers. We continue to believe that going forward, the Middle East will stay one of the few regions in the world where institutional investors will strongly favor actively managed funds over passive instruments such as ETFs,” said Charles H Monchau, Managing Director – Head of Investment Management at Al Mal Capital.