Standard Chartered invests $75 million in Bahrain's firm

February, 06th 2011

DUBAI - Standard Chartered Private Equity Limited (SCPEL), the private equity arm of Standard Chartered Bank, announced on Monday that it has closed a $75 million mezzanine investment in Hassan Mohammed Jawad & Sons.

The company is part of Bahrain-based family-owned business - Jawad Business Group. The group is one of the largest and most diversified mid-market retailers in the GCC with approximately 660 stores in Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and India with distribution centres in Bahrain and Dubai.

The company’s main franchises include 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 in several GCC countries.

This is SCPEL’s first proprietary investment in the Middle East and demonstrates a 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, the company said.

SCPEL executes both private equity and mezzanine investments backed by Standard Chartered Bank’s balance sheet, it added.

“We believe this to be the largest MENA [Middle East and North Africa] corporate mezzanine investment to-date and is a strong indication of our belief in the JBG senior management team. 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,” Taimoor Labib, Managing Director & Regional Head of MENA Private Equity at SCPEL said.

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 the bank’s 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 Private Equity, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Distressed Investments.

Source: khaleejtimes.com