November 17, 2014
London and Cairo, November 17, 2014: EIIB-Rasmala, (‘the Group’), a leading specialist asset management and financing group, has today announced its full acquisition of Rasmala Egypt Asset Management S.A.E (‘REAM’). The Group has increased its shareholding in REAM from 51% to 100%, following the acquisition of the remaining 49% previously held by other shareholders.
The transaction further consolidates EIIB-Rasmala’s asset management business and follows the recent announcement of a series of new strategic initiatives for 2015, including the expansion of the Group’s leasing and real estate businesses.
With its origins going back to 1997, REAM is one of the most well-established and fastest growing asset management firms in Egypt. REAM’s investment philosophy, market intelligence and strong risk management practices have been key pillars for its consistent outperformance. The firm’s fixed-income portfolios yielded 10.05% annually in the past five years vs. 9.90% average return for the one-year Treasury Bills during the same period. The firm’s equity composite average return consistently outperformed the market recording 31.30% in 2013 vs. 24.19% for the EGX 30 and 21.04% for average equity funds in Egypt. According to performance rankings issued by the Egyptian Investment Management Association, REAM’s ABC Equity Fund was the best performing equity fund in Egypt in the last 12 months ended 30 September 2014.
Zak Hydari, Chief Executive of EIIB-Rasmala, commented: “The full acquisition of REAM is a further milestone in the consolidation of our fast growing regional asset management business. In line with our overall asset management strategy, we are now opening discussions with potential JV partners to expand our investment activities in both Egypt and other parts of Africa.”