Foursan Group, a leading MENA private equity investor, today announced the assignment of Shariyah Review Bureau (SRB) for reviewing, certifying and supervising its private equity Islamic Fund with a multi-country, multi-sector Middle East focus. The assignment will help deliver significant operating cost savings to Foursan’s Islamic Fund with a transformed Sharia supervisory screening architecture on which to build value added equity investments, targeted to generate attractive returns for investors.
The Islamic Fund will invest in emerging companies in a range of sectors to enhance their operations and provide them with new avenues for expansion. Nashat T. Masri, Founding Partner of Foursan Group, stated: “This is an ambitious equity acquisition program, one that is expected to achieve above market financial returns for our Sharia-compliant investors.” He added, “Our investment selection proposition for the Fund demonstrates the potential for innovative financial and equity structures in light of Sharia with new sources of opportunities for Sharia-compliant investments.”
Speaking on the assignment of the Sharia Advisor he stated “We’re delighted to welcome SRB as our independent Sharia Advisor. Their extensive experience in the Islamic industry and global footprint will help us ensure Sharia compliance in our private equity transactions, and will be a significant benefit to investors looking for Sharia assurances. Their regional track record as an outsourcing Sharia Advisory partner and deep expertise in managing complex private equity contracts are key factors in our decision to assign them.”
SRB will assume responsibility for reviewing, certifying and conducting periodical Sharia Audits on the Fund and its executed transactions. A central part of SRB’s commitment will be the ongoing delivery of a converged screening of private equity acquisitions in light of Sharia.
Yasser S. Dahlawi, CEO and Founder of SRB, said: “This assignment marks our ability to meet the needs of leading regional players like Foursan Group. Ambitious clients are increasingly looking to us to manage Sharia certification and ongoing Sharia supervisory processes of their investments.” Commenting on the equity market he added, “We see greater indications of the Islamic private equity market growing in size, scale and sophistication, which we hope will encourage more investments and attract new opportunities to the Sharia compliant market.”