Al-Rajhi plans emerging, Asian funds

Saudi Arabia's largest listed bank al-Rajhi will soon launch two equity investment funds for emerging markets.

Saudi Arabia's largest listed bank al-Rajhi will soon launch two equity investment funds for emerging markets, it said on Saturday.

HT Image

The two funds, one for India and China and the other for unspecified emerging markets, will be dollar-denominated and focus on long-term investment in firms that "post record economic growths", the bank said.

It provided no further details on the amount of cash that will be injected into the funds. "We will launch next month subscriptions for the fund," a bank spokesman said.

Al-Rajhi already has 14 funds for local, Gulf and foreign stock markets.

Analysts said the move may be motivated by abundant liquidity and stellar valuation ratios the local bourse reached after a strong rally that has lasted for more than three years.

"It makes sense for al-Rajhi to take such a decision because of the situation here and as Saudi firms seek to get closer to Chinese and Indian firms to boost cooperation," a financial analyst said.

King Abdullah is currently on an Asian tour to boost trade ties with China, India, Pakistan and Malaysia.