Abu Dhabi-listed Eshraq Investments has completed its acquisition of 99.25% of the Shuaa Capital-managed Goldilocks Fund, while also announcing an exit and two acquisitions by the newly acquired fund.

The company said after both a capital decrease and issuing new shares, the new issued capital of Eshraq is AED 2.82 billion ($768 million) and its assets exceed AED 3.8 billion ($1.34 billion), with the book value expected to be AED 0.92-0.96 per share.

In a statement about the acquisition of Goldilocks, which was first announced in March, Eshraq said it had completed a capital decrease to absorb accumulated losses, reducing capital from AED 2.325 billion to AED 1.435 billion.

It then issued 1,385,073,097 new shares at a nominal value of AED 1 and registered them in the name of the New Shareholders in exchange for their share in the holding, pursuant to the agreed share of the acquisition, the statement said.

Eshraq also confirmed that by the end of April 2022, Goldilocks completed its full exit from Bahrain-based GFH Financial Group BSC, which had represented 14.76% of the fund’s total assets, according to a shareholder circular which was issued regarding the Goldilocks transaction earlier in April.

The fund has also now acquired a stake of approximately 50% in Thalassa Investments, the partnership that holds 100% stake in Stanford Marine Group and Allianz Marine & Logistics Services, which own and manage $400 million worth of 150 offshore support vessels.

In addition, it has signed an agreement to acquire a 51% stake in NCM Investment, a forex, commodity, and index trading company, subject to regulatory approvals.

Eshraq received approval for its buyback proposal in its recently held general assembly meeting and will commence the buyback once all regulatory approvals are obtained.

(Reporting by Imogen Lillywhite; editing by Brinda Darasha)

imogen.lillywhite@lseg.com