United Arab Emirates-based investment banking and investment management firm The National Investor has signed a license agreement with index provider MSCI Barra to create the MSCI Arabian
United Arab Emirates-based investment banking and investment management firm The National Investor has signed a license agreement with index provider MSCI Barra to create the MSCI Arabian Markets Real Estate Capped Index.
A free float-adjusted market capitalisation index, the MSCI Arabian Markets Real Estate Capped Index contains more than 60 real estate securities of the largest and most liquid companies from 11 Arab countries.
The index will be used as a benchmark for the existing TNI MENA Real Estate Active Fund. Calculated daily, it will include companies in the construction and engineering, homebuilding, hotels, resorts and cruise lines, thrifts and mortgage finance, and diversified real estate activities sub-sectors.
The index will be calculated in US dollars and weights of companies in the index will be capped at 10 per cent to reflect the investment guidelines of the TNI MENA Real Estate Active Fund.
‘The real estate sector plays a pivotal role in Arab economies and constitutes one of the major contributors to Arab non-oil GDP,’ says The National Investor’s director of asset management Walid Hayeck.
‘It is one of the first sectors to benefit from oil cash surpluses and government infrastructure spending. We like to think of it as a market proxy for regional growth, and the TNI MENA Real Estate Active Fund is an ideal tool for an exposure to this still-promising growth story.’
The National Investor has business divisions covering investment banking, private equity, asset management, real estate, investment research and principal investments. Its associate company GNSC provides brokerage services as a member of the Abu Dhabi Securities Market and the Dubai Financial Market.
