StanChart unit exits $75m Bahrain investment
Dubai, April 29, 2013
Standard Chartered said its private equity arm has exited a $75 million mezzanine investment in Hassan Mohammed Jawad & Sons (Jawad Business Group), a family-owned private company based in Bahrain.
Standard Chartered Private Equity Limited (SCPEL) said this is its first investment exit in the Middle East.
The investment was made at the height of the global financial crisis and served to recapitalize and strengthen Jawad Business Group’s balance sheet, said the banking giant in its statement.
Jawad Business Group is one of the largest and most diversified mid-market retailers in the GCC with approximately 550 stores in the Gulf states besides India with distribution centres in Bahrain and Dubai.
The company’s main franchises include Accessorize, Monsoon, The White Company, Mango, Bhs, Pumpkin Patch, Hush Puppies, Chili’s, Lakeland, Dairy Queen, Costa Coffee, Burger King and Papa John’s Pizza in several GCC countries.
SCPEL executes equity and equity-linked investments, as well as mezzanine debt, backed by Standard Chartered Bank’s balance sheet, providing clients with flexibility and certainty of funding, it added.
Taimoor Labib, the managing director & regional head of Mena Private Equity at SCPEL said, "We take great pride in our partnership with Jawad Business Group and the role we played in strengthening its balance sheet during such a challenging period."
"Jawad is well positioned with a strong performing portfolio and excellent growth prospects throughout the GCC. We congratulate its team on navigating the business through this cycle and we continue to believe their core brands give them one of the best retail portfolios in the region," he stated.
This investment shows SCPEL’s long-term dedication to the region and to the private equity and mezzanine asset class, remarked Labib.
"We continue to have a large appetite for investing throughout the capital structure of our bank’s clients. Our ability to invest in equity and equity-linked securities, as well as mezzanine debt, gives us complete flexibility in the creative financing solutions we can provide, along with certainty of funding," he added.
Since 2002, Standard Chartered, through its Principal Finance Group, has invested and bought assets worth $5.5 billion in existing Bank clients as well as companies that become the Bank's clients throughout Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
The investments aim to provide growth capital to enable development and expansion, buy outs and acquisitions, and balance sheet restructuring. The Principal Finance Group invests directly in asset classes that include private equity, mezzanine, infrastructure and real estate.
Faisal Jawad, the chairman & CEO of Jawad Business Group said, “We are pleased with the successful exit realised by SCPEL and we look to continue to capitalise upon the opportunities in the markets throughout which we operate our portfolio of world leading brands and franchises."
"Jawad and SCPEL came together in what were challenging times and we believe SCPEL’s exit is well timed," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
