Standard Chartered Bank said its private equity unit has closed a $75 million mezzanine investment deal with Hassan Mohammed Jawad & Sons (Jawad Business Group), a family-owned private company based in Bahrain.

Jawad Group has a major presence in Gulf with key franchises including 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.

Standard Chartered Private Equity Limited (SCPEL) said this was the company's first proprietary investment in the Middle East.

SCPEL executes both private equity and mezzanine investments backed by Standard Chartered’s balance sheet, providing clients with flexibility and certainty of funding.

The deal demonstrates the bank's commitment to investing in mid to late stage companies across sectors with proven growth oriented business models, positive net cash flow and earnings generation backed by highly capable and trustworthy management teams,' said Taimoor Labib, managing director and regional head of Mena Private Equity at SCPEL.

'We believe this to be the largest Mena corporate mezzanine investment to date and is a strong indication of our belief in the JBG senior management team.'

'Our investment in JBG demonstrates an ability to participate in all levels of our clients' capital structures. As the proprietary investor for Standard Chartered Bank, we are one of the few organisations in the Mena private equity space capable of executing large ticket transactions across asset classes,' Labib added.

David Law, regional head of Wholesale Banking, said, “Standard Chartered has been working with JBG for the last 23 years and we are pleased to be deepening our relationship further by providing this bespoke financing solution to help the company meet its long term objectives while providing certainty of funding.'

Since 2002, SCPEL has invested and bought assets worth $2.5 billion in existing bank clients as well as companies that become its 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. SCPEL invests directly in asset classes that include PE, infrastructure, real estate and distressed investments.

Faisal Jawad, chairman & CEO, Jawad Business Group said the shareholders and board of directors at JBG were delighted to conclude this mezzanine investment with SCPEL.

'SCPEL’s first Mena investment is a tremendous endorsement of the robustness of our business model and further strengthens the deep rooted relations between JBG and SCB and allows for consolidation of the businesses in the medium term.” 

Jawad Business Group is one of the largest and most diversified mid-market retailers in the GCC with 660 stores in Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and India with distribution centres in Bahrain and Dubai.-TradeArabia News Service