Al Mal Capital raises Dh350m through Reit listing

Fund plans to acquire a portfolio of properties in the healthcare, education and industrial sectors

Al Mal Capital Reit will list on the DFM in January after it gets final regulatory approval. Pawan Singh / The National

Al Mal Capital, an asset management subsidiary of Dubai Investments, raised Dh350 million ($95.37m) through the public float of its real estate investment trust, or Reit.

Al Mal Capital Reit closed its initial public offering on December 8 and received regulatory approval to operate as a property investment fund last week, the company said in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market on Monday.

The Reit will begin trading on the Dubai bourse in January, once it receives final approval from the DFM and the Securities and Commodities Authority, it said.

"We are proud that we have successfully raised the required amount for Al Mal Capital Reit, especially during the unprecedented times we faced this year," said Naser Al Nabulsi, vice chairman and chief executive of Al Mal Capital.

“We are confident that the Reit will continue to meet investors’ needs, as we begin to purchase and acquire income-generating real estate assets."

The Reit plans to acquire a diversified portfolio of property with long-term lease agreements.

The listing proceeds will be used alongside Islamic financing from local banks for investment in health care, education and industrial property sector assets.

The fund manager will invest in Sharia-compliant assets in both onshore and offshore zones in the UAE.

It aims to achieve an annual 7 per cent return, distributing at least 80 per cent of its income to investors, according to the bourse filing.

Al Mal Capital Reit initially sought to raise Dh500m in IPO proceeds, according to an October 26 statement.

It will be the first Reit to trade on the DFM.

Emirates Reit and ENBD Reit, two other property investment vehicles in the emirate, are listed on Nasdaq Dubai.

Khaleefa Al Mansouri, the former chief executive of Abu Dhabi's exchange, told The National in July that several Reits were also considering listing on the ADX.

The property market in Dubai has faced headwinds since the three-year oil price slump that began in 2014.

Oversupply concerns have added to investors' concerns, but transaction volumes have picked up in recent months after a bounce-back in the emirate's economy after movement restrictions to stem the spread of Covid-19 were lifted.

There were 3,928 property deals worth Dh7.65 billion completed last month, the highest amount for nine months, property portal Property Finder said in a report earlier this month.

This brought the total number of property deals completed in the emirate in the first 11 months to 33,537, with a total value of Dh69bn.