Vision Investment Services has acquired A/T Capital Management, an asset management firm based in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) to expand asset management services to international clients.

A/T Capital was established in 2008 and invests in Middle Eastern equity markets mainly for international institutional investors.

A/T Capital has had a consistent track record of generating excess returns in regional equity markets by conducting extensive fundamental research, to identify and invest in mispriced securities. The firm was able, over the years, to attract international institutional investors, mainly from the United States and Europe to invest in the region.

Since its founding in 1998, Vision has established itself as a premier investment management firm, with a focus on patient, fundamental research. This has resulted in an outstanding track record that has attracted some of the region’s top institutional investors. Earlier this year, Thomson Reuters, a major international fund rating firm, gave its Lipper Award to Vision’s Emerging GCC Fund as the “best GCC Equity Fund over a 10-year period.”

“With our consistent success with regional investors, we have decided that the time is right to begin targeting international investors and expand our base of regional investors. We believe that our acquisition of A/T Capital, with its past success, both geographical and regulatory position, is going to be a key component in achieving this objective,” said Ali Juma, Vision’s chief executive.

Mustafa Jaafar, Vision’s executive director, said: “Regional equity markets, at over $1 trillion in market capitalization, are grossly under-owned by international investors. With the increasing privatization initiatives in the region, especially Saudi Arabia, we believe there are significant opportunities to attract more capital to the region. We see ourselves at over $1 billion in assets under management in regional equity markets over the intermediate term from both international and regional investors.”

Foreign investors still constitute a small percentage of both ownership and trading in regional stock markets, due to limited availability of extensive research by international analysts on the majority of listed equities. Vision with its long experience in doing fundamental researches as well as investing in these markets provides a good platform for foreign investors to take advantage of the immense opportunities in the region.

“Both A/T Capital and Vision share a strong commitment to fundamental research. The investment styles of the two firms are very similar. This has allowed for a great deal of continuity following the acquisition,” said Omar Abdallah, executive director and cofounder of A/T Capital.

Under Vision’s management, A/T Capital intends to launch an extensive international and regional marketing effort to attract more capital to the regional equity markets. – TradeArabia News Service