A GCC equities fund, jointly managed by leading investment bank Gulf Finance House (GFH) and Kuwait Finance and Investment Company (KFIC), has won a prestigious Lipper Award.

The Sharia’a-compliant Al Basha'er GCC Equity Fund was selected for “best performance over a three-year period” in the ‘Equity GCC’ category.

Salah Rahimi, deputy chief executive officer of GFH and chairman of the Fund, together with Yousef Al Ebrahim, head of Business Development at KFIC, received the award at the 'Lipper Fund Awards 2009' ceremony, held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Bahrain on March 31.

The annual Lipper Awards, presented by Thomson Reuters, are the top awards for the global fund industry and are given for consistently superior investment fund performance.

The awards are presented to funds in 21 countries in Asia, Europe and the United States. “GFH and KFIC are gratified by the global recognition given to one of our funds, particularly during these challenging times,” said Rahimi.

“The award also serves as a commendation of the talent and expertise of the GFH-KFIC team of professionals who have skillfully managed the fund since its inception.”

The open-ended Al Basha’er Fund, incorporated in Bahrain, was launched in 2005 with the objective of achieving medium to long term capital appreciation through investing in Sharia’a-compliant equities listed in GCC stock markets.

Wael Al Fadhala, deputy chief executive officer of KFIC and vice chairman of the Fund said: 'We are very proud to be acknowledged for the performance of one of our funds. Our goal is to build and protect the wealth of investors and the Lipper Award will provide us encouragement to enhance and improve our successful investment model.”-TradeArabia News Service