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UAE: Recognizing
the lucrative opportunities in Shariah-seeking investors, National Bank
of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) has launched the NBAD Shariah MENA Dividend Leader
Fund, a fund modelled after its highly successful NBAD MENA Dividend
Leader Fund (MDL), to cater to Muslim investors.
Speaking exclusively to IFN, Saleem Khokhar, the head of equities at
NBAD’s Asset Management Group (which manages assets in excess of AED10.4
billion (US$2.2 billion)), shared: “The demand for [the MDL] was very
large, growing to about US$380 million in size in a span of a year and a
half. We’re replicating that in a Shariah format and building it on the
success we’ve already seen - we think it is an opportune time to bring
that into a Shariah format to an Islamic audience.”
If the new NBAD Shariah MENA Dividend Leader Fund is able to reproduce
the performance of its conventional counterpart, the fund could deliver
4.5-5.5% in yield. The Islamic fund invests in a diversified portfolio of
dividend-paying companies traded in the MENA equities markets, including:
Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and
the UAE, using the S&P MENA Shariah compliant list as a guide.
“The whole profile will be Shariah compliant high dividend stocks with
capital appreciation potential; so it is not going into value-only stocks
but also looking for stocks with high capital appreciation potential and
high upside valuation potential from our modelling. We also look for
large cap liquid with relatively low volatility,” explained Saleem.
With several Islamic funds in its portfolio, NBAD’s move to expand its
Shariah compliant product offerings, especially with one that mirrors the
bank’s star fund and star AUM gatherer as described by Saleem, bears
testament to the growing sophistication of affluent Muslim investors.
The NBAD Shariah MENA Dividend Leader Fund is UCITS IV-compliant,
regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Northern Trust Group acts as
the fund’s administrator and custodian.
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