Dubai to launch $2 billion global equity fund http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2006-10-17T202747Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-272639-1.xml&archived=False
Tue Oct 17, 2006
DUBAI (Reuters) - State-owned Dubai International Capital (DIC), the third-largest shareholder in DaimlerChrysler, will launch a $2 billion fund to invest in large listed companies globally.
DIC affiliate DIC Asset Management should close the first tranche of the fund before the end of the month, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. DIC is one of several investment arms of the government of Dubai. "We hope to build significant stakes in some of the biggest and most influential listed companies in the world," DIC chief executive Sameer Al Ansari said in the statement.
It bought a billion-dollar minority stake in German carmaker DaimlerChrysler in January 2005.
"We wish to build on that success through further similar structured investments," Ansari said.
UAE companies, many linked to the governments of the country's emirates, have been making high-profile purchases around the world.
In August, DIC took over budget hotel operator Travelodge, adding to its growing basket of acquisitions in Britain. DIC also owns British engineering firm Doncasters Group, the Tussauds Group, home of the famous waxwork museums, and the London office building One Trafalgar Square.
The fund manager, called NewDawn GSE Asset Management, will operate out of the Dubai International Financial Centre, a dollar-based offshore investment zone in the Gulf Arab region's commercial hub, the company said.
DIC Asset Management expects to raise up to $2 billion in equity through two or more closings in the next year, it added.
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