DubaiBeat.com

MENA Venture Investments acquired stake in Wysada.com

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:30:59 +0400

MENA Venture Investments, an investment firm based in Jordan, announced angel investment in e-commerce platform Wysada.com

Launched in January 2013, Wysada.com is an online retail platform for home interiors and décor in the Middle East.

"MENA Venture Investments" is listed in the Middle East Investors Directory with the code SINX1.

More details follows:

Middle East Venture Partners invested in 3 new firms

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 17:40:12 +0400

Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) has announced a couple of new investments in 3 companies .

It is investing $400,000 in the fast food chain Shawarmanji, $250,000 in Arab recipe web portal Shahiya and $500,000 in the online book distribution company Cedar Books. These are co-investments between MEVP’s two funds Middle East Venture Fund MEVF and Building Block Equity Fund BBEF.

Middle East Venture Partners is listed in the Middle East Investors Directory with the code SINJA31.

More details follows from the Daily Star

MENA Infrastructure Fund acquired 20% of Sohar Power Company

Sun, 02 Jun 2013 17:39:37 +0400

MENA Infrastructure Fund, the Dubai-based private equity fund sponsored by HSBC, Waha Capital and Fajr Capital, has acquired 20% of Sohar Power Company.

The $300 million MENA Infrastructure Fund LP was launched in 2007. The Sohar Power acquisition marks the fund’s fourth major investment, having previously acquired stakes in Alexandria International Container Terminals in Egypt, United Power Company in Oman and Hajr Electricity Production Company in Saudi Arabia.

To see a list of investors from the Middle East similar to MENA Infrastructure Fund, check our Middle East Investors Directory.

More details follows:

BECO Capital and Dubai angel investors invested $1 million in TravelerVIP.com

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:24:56 +0400

BECO Capital, an investment firm based in Dubai, and a consortium of angel investors announced investing $1 million in the hotel booking website TravelerVIP.com.

The website offers its members up to 50% discount on luxury hotels and has deals with 1,000 hotels. The angel investors in this round included Soha Nashaat, former CEO of Barclays Wealth MENA & Turkey, and Jakob Beck Thomsen, CEO of SaxoBank MENA & Turkey.

BECO Capital is listed in the Middle East Investors Directory with the code SINOC9.

More details follows

Saudi family office acquired Four Seasons Toronto for $200 million

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 08:44:18 +0400

Kingdom Holding, a Saudi family office, has acquired Four Seasons Toronto Canada for $200 million.

The Four Seasons Hotel Toronto offers 259 spacious luxury hotel guest rooms, including 42 suites, in Toronto's Yorkville neighborhood.

Kingdom Holding Company is listed in the Middle East Investors Directory with the code BFD84.

More details follows

Saudi private equity firm invested $45 million in 10 global companies

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:10:42 +0400

Sedco, a Saudi private equity firm, has invested $45 million in 10 global companies in the past months - Reuters is reporting.

Sedco’s private equity fund which is launched a year ago has raised $113 million of which 40 percent is invested in 10 companies globally. Sedco has also invested globally in real estate and currently eyes Asian markets as well. The two-year old Jeddah-based firm manages about $3 billion in assets.

Sedco is listed in the Middle East Investors Directory with the code ORP18.

More details follows from Reuters

Bahrain's Investcorp acquires Scandinavia's luxury retailer for $140 million

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:42:09 +0400

Investcorp, a Bahrain-based investment firm, acquired Scandinavia's luxury retailer Georg Jensen for $140 million.

With a history that spans over 100 years, Georg Jensen is a global luxury brand that designs, manufactures and distributes jewellery, watches, fine silverware and homeware.

Investcorp is listed in the Middle East Investors Directory with the code OR30.

More details follows

DubaiBeat.com an official partner of the Global Citizenship Conference Dubai

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 19:31:42 +0400

It is a pleasure for us to announce that DubaiBeat.com is an official media partner of the Global Residence & Citizenship Conference - Dubai 2012 which will be held 21-22 November 2012 at Madinat Jumeirah Mina A’Salam Hotel, Dubai, UAE.

Henley & Partners & IBC Present the 6th Annual Global Residence & Citizenship conference. 200 attendees joined the 2011 conference in London where the premier residence and citizenship event in the private client calendar boasted two ministerial addresses, one from the UK & St Kitts & Nevis.

Among other partners of the event you can find Financial Times, National Bank Financial and Finance Malta. See more details and a list of speakers.

Link Online acquires web portal Arabia.com

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:57:59 +0400

Egyptian investors of Link Online, a subsidiary of OT Ventures, announced the acquisition of Arabia.com, an Arabic web portal.

They have chosen Dubai to be the hub of launching the new look of Arabia.com. OT Ventures' subsidiary Link Online, launched in 2004, has been the force behind some portals including Masrawy.com, Yallakora.com, and Otlob.com and most recently the launch of Jawhara.me, which took place in Dubai.

To see more investors from the Middle East like Egypt's OT Ventures, check our Middle East Investors Directory

More details follows from their release

Kuwait Investors acquired land in Morocco for $53 million

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 19:54:14 +0400

Kuwait investors of Taameer Real Estate Investment have acquired a plot of land in Morocco for $53 million to develop a real estate project - Kuwait News Agency reports.

The project will involve the construction of a hotel, a mall, villas, and residential apartments, Fawaz Al Bader, the company's chief executive said, according to Zawya Dow Jones, adding that the plot of land, valued at KWD1.2 million, covers an area of 35,000 square meters in Tangier city.

To see more Real Estate investors from the Middle East like Taameer, check our Middle East Investors Directory

DubaiBeat.com an official partner of the SuperReturn ME Conference 2012

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 07:36:25 +0400

It is a pleasure for us to announce that DubaiBeat.com is an official media partner of the 6th Annual SuperReturn Middle East 2012 which is being held 15-17 October 2012 at Ritz-Carlton, Dubai International Finance Center.

SuperReturn Middle East brings together global experts from around the region and the world. The largest private equity event in the MENA region returns for 2012 with its line-up of regional investors, international fund managers, and guest speakers.

Among other partners of the event you can find Abraaj Capital, HBG, Citadel and Citi. See more details here

Middle East Venture Partners invested in 4 new firms

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 12:40:39 +0400

Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), a Cayman Island fund managed by an ex-Dubai International Capital manager, has announced a couple of new investments in 4 companies.

The investments include acquiring stakes in The Luxury Closet, a UAE-based online market platform for luxury bags, Gate2Play, a Jordan-based e-payment solutions, Shahiya.com, a food recipes sites and
game developers of Wixel Studios. MEVP also made a second round of funding in the music portal Anghami.com, thus increasing its aggregate investment in the website to $1 million. (DubaiBeat past coverage on MEVP is here)

Middle East Venture Partners is listed in the Middle East Investors Directory with the code SINJA31.

Middle East Investors Directory Major Update - 426 investment firms and 731 contacts listed

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 18:39:20 +0400

We have just released our latest update to DubaiBeat's "Directory of Venture Capital and Private Equity in the Middle East". Now a total of 426 Middle Eastern investment firms and 731 contacts from those firms are listed in our investors directory.

This update is released in line with our regular enhancements to the directory. The last major updates have been released on Sep-2009, Jan-2010, Mar-2010, Jan-2011 and Nov-2011.

As before, since the volume of the directory has increased rapidly - now at 128 pages -, we are also including the raw Excel files of all 426 firms and 731 contacts. (At the moment the raw Excel files are free when you order the directory. So order and download now!)

Bahrain investor's summer acquisitions in Spain and US: $550 million

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 08:34:50 +0400

Investcorp, the Bahrain-based investment firm, has acquired two firms from Spain and US during the summer for a total of $550 million.

The first acquisition was Rogers Minnesota-based Archway, a provider of marketing logistics and fulfilment services in North America, for approximately $300 million. (The company operates over four million square feet of warehouse facilities across 14 major metropolitan areas throughout the United States and Canada.) The second acquisition was Spain's Esmalglass, a supplier of intermediate products for the ceramics industry for $250 million.

Investcorp is listed in the Middle East Investors Directory with the code OR30.

More details follows

JPM, London fund invest $20 million in Dubai e-commerce firm

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 17:01:57 +0400

J.P. Morgan Chase and Blakeney Management have invested over $20 million in Dubai-based ecommerce firm Namshi.com - Reuters is reporting

Namshi.com, which was officially launched in January 2012, sells footwear and fashion online and ship to fashion consumers across the GCC. For a list of similar investments in the Middle East online space, check our special section here.

More details follows from Reuters