Dubai-based investment firm NBK Capital Partners has closed its third private credit fund in excess of $215 million, missing its target to raise $300 million.
The Shari’ah Credit Opportunities Fund is the third fund that has been raised by NBK Capital’s credit platform, which has raised over $530 million since its inception in 2009.
The final close comes a little less than two years after the fund marked its first close with the backing of Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund.
Apart from PIF, the fund’s limited partners include institutional investors from the UAE and the United States, including Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners, a third-party investor backed by Mubadala Investment Company and Alpha Wave Global. Other investors include insurance companies, financial institutions and family offices, NBK Capital said.
“The top-tier investors we have attracted provide a strong endorsement to the institutional quality of our credit platform – one that has capital and an experienced team to maintain our leadership position. We are better positioned than ever to tap into attractive investment opportunities across the region,” said Yaser Moustafa, CEO at NBK Capital Partners.
NBK Capital said that, much like its previous funds, the new fund will provide flexible structured capital to middle market companies in core markets of Saudi Arabia, UAE and broader Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
The credit fund will primarily lend to companies in domains such as business services, healthcare, education, technology-enabled and consumer sectors with investment size ranging from $10 million to $30 million. With co-investments, the fund will be able to write much larger cheques.
Since 2009, the firm’s Private Credit team has completed 15 investments across three fund vehicles. Earlier in September, the firm announced the exit from Energia, a Saudi Arabia-based temporary power solutions business, its 10th consecutive profitable exit for its private credit portfolio.
The new credit fund is currently 15% deployed. It will make several investments in the next few months and will be 50% invested by the first quarter of 2023, NBK Capital said.
Its first investment was a $20 million growth capital financing to UAE-based Reach Group to expand in Saudi Arabia. The company is one of the largest temporary staffing providers in the UAE with over 6,700 outsourced full-time employees.
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