Arcapita eyes more investment exits

Bahrain-based investment firm Arcapita plans to exit two more of its investments in the next six months and will use funds for part repayment of a $1.1 billion (Dh4.04 billion) loan maturing in April, its chief executive said yesterday. The Islamic firm will exit one investment each in the Europe and the US, CEO Atif Abdul Malek said without specifying what assets it wants to dispose. Arcapita, with about $7.7 billion in funds under management, raised $435 million from its investment in property firm Mapletree Industrial Trust last year and sold a portfolio of senior living communities in the US for $630 million in early 2011. "We have done over $1 billion worth of exits in the last year and expect to complete two more large ones in the next six months. One is in Europe and the other exit will be in the US," Abdul Malek said. Like most investment firms in the region, Arcapita was hit by the financial crisis as it struggled to exit its investments due to global investor woes and its fee income from raising fresh funds in the Gulf Arab region collapsed. It needs to refinance a $1.1 billion murabaha loan due in April 2012, on which German lender WestLB, Barclays and Standard Chartered were bookrunners. Abdul Malek said the firm is in advanced negotiations with the lenders to refinance a portion of the deal and repay the rest from funds raised partly from sale of investment assets. "We aim to reach a conclusion on the loan refinancing with banks by September or October," he said. Early this year banks were selling Arcapita's syndicated loans at distressed levels in the secondary market signalling they were not expecting a full repayment of the loan. From / Gulf News