Swicorp, a leading Saudi investment banking, private equity and asset management firm focused on the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region and Turkey, said it has successfully closed private placement subscriptions for the Al-Dhawahi Real Estate Development Fund after raising SR78.1 million ($21 million) in equity, along with structuring a SR68-million ($18 million) facility loan from a local bank.

The Al-Dhawahi Fund was established by Swicorp in partnership with Nesaj Development Company, a subsidiary of the Al-Fozan Group.

As per the deal, Nesaj will develop and sell 133 mid-income villas in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Till now, the skeleton construction phase of the project known as Al-Dhawahi has been completed with some villas beginning the finishing work, said a statement from Swicorp.

The fund is expected to return money to investors by the end of 2015 or early 2016.

There was a strong interest from investors during the offering period resulting in the fund being oversubscribed and the equity was raised from institutional and individual investors, it stated.

Kais Mbarek, the head of asset management at Swicorp, said the company was honoured to take the role of fund manager for Al-Dhawahi and to contribute to the development of the real estate sector in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia.

"We are confident that with our experience and expertise, we will be able to generate attractive returns for fund investors in partnership with Nesaj and hope that this fund will be the start of a long-term mutually beneficial relationship between the two parties," he added.

Dr Sameer Akbar, the chief executive of Nesaj Development Company, said: "We are looking forward to developing a high standard residential community for the middle income Saudi Arabian family."

"Al Dawahi is going to be the project. Its urban pattern, architectural design of villas, and quality of the contracting and materials are all distinguished," stated Akbar.

"Many customers are already contacting us to book what suits them from the variety of villas in Al- Dawahi. We are also excited with the partnership of Swicorp," he added.-TradeArabia News Service