Riyadh – Sharikat Mubasher: Jadwa Investment announced the first close for its first regional blind-pool private equity fund, GCC Private Equity Fund 1, with total capital commitments of SAR 1.0 billion.

In a press release by Jadwa, the company said that the fund is among the largest blind-pool private equity funds regulated by the Capital Market Authority (CMA), and aims to invest in a diversified, cross-sectoral set of high-potential private equity opportunities across the GCC.

 In line with its investment strategy, the fund has already completed its first three investments across the retail and food and beverage sectors and is expected to be fully invested over a three-year deployment period.

Tariq Al-Sudairy, Managing Director and CEO of Jadwa Investment, commented: "We are pleased to announce the launch of our first regional blind-pool private equity fund, GCC Private Equity Fund 1. Thanks to our clients’ continued trust, this constitutes another important milestone in the growth and development of our private equity platform."

Elie El Khoury, Head of Private Equity at Jadwa Investment, added: "GCC Private Equity Fund 1 will invest in a diversified portfolio of high-potential investments across multiple sectors in the GCC.” He continued, “The fund’s blind pool structure will enable our clients to invest in a well-diversified and balanced manner, and will provide us with the flexibility to act quickly and transact seamlessly.”

Jadwa explained that while blind-pool funds are common in developed markets, private equity investments in the Middle East have traditionally been structured in the form of single-asset investment vehicles. It added that the first close of GCC Private Equity Fund 1 builds on Jadwa’s successful track record of 16 single-asset private equity funds since Jadwa’s inception in 2007.