Abu Dhabi's Eshraq Investments completes acquisition of Goldilocks Fund

The move is aimed at bolstering the company's financial performance and boosting efficiency

Jassim Alseddiqi, chairman of Eshraq, which has a portfolio of residential, hospitality and other property projects. Reem Mohammed / The Nationa

Abu Dhabi-based Eshraq Investments has completed its acquisition of Goldilocks Fund as the company seeks to diversify its portfolio and boost profitability.

Eshraq now owns 99.25 per cent of Abu Dhabi Global Market-domiciled Goldilocks, it said in filing on Tuesday to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares are traded.

The company has reduced its share capital to Dh1.435 billion ($382 million) from Dh2.325bn and absorbed all the accumulated losses, it said.

Eshraq has also issued 1,385,073,097 new shares with a nominal value of Dh1, registering them in the name of new shareholders in exchange for their shares in the holding pursuant to the agreed terms of the acquisition.

As a result of the acquisition, the company's new issued capital is now at Dh2.8bn, and total assets are at more than Dh3.8bn.

Eshraq's book value on Tuesday is expected to be in the range of Dh0.92-Dh0.96 per share, with the exact value to be firmed up in the third quarter of 2022, the statement said.

The company first announced plans to acquire Goldilocks in March. The move will "strengthen the company's financial performance and improve operational efficiency", Jassim Alseddiqi, Eshraq's chairman, said at the time.

Goldilocks, which is managed by Shuaa GMC, a unit of Dubai-based investment bank Shuaa Capital, has investments in a number of blue-chip companies across the Gulf region, including Dana Gas, GFH Financial Group, Salama and Takaful Emarat.

The fund is also an investor in companies such as music streaming platform Anghami, India’s largest EdTech unicorn Byju’s and Switzerland’s pharma tech company SkyCell.

Goldilocks acquired an approximately 50 per cent stake in Thalassa Investments, the partnership that holds a 100 per cent stake in Stanford and Allianz Marine & Logistics Services.

It has also signed an agreement to acquire a 51 per cent stake in NCM Investment, a Kuwait-based forex, commodity and index trading company. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.

Eshraq, which has a portfolio of residential, hospitality and other property projects, reported a loss in the second quarter of 2022 as operating expenses as well as finance costs rose, despite a rise in revenue from commercial operations.

The company posted a loss of Dh7m in the three months to the end of June, it said in a statement to the ADX.