Simmons & Simmons has advised SEDCO Capital, the Saudi Arabian-based asset manager and one of the world's leading providers of Shariah-compliant investment solutions, on the development and successful launch of a one-stop-shop investment platform of Shariah-compliant funds domiciled in Luxembourg and regulated as a specialised investment fund. The platform is targeted at professional and institutional investors and comprises sub-funds managed in compliance with Shariah guidelines by a range of specialist third party investment managers, in addition to SEDCO Capital itself. With seven funds and current AUM of close to US$1.2bn, the aim is to launch six to eight more funds by the end of 2013, raising AUM to around US$1.6bn.
SEDCO Capital is a full-service Shariah-compliant wealth and asset management firm serving third-party institutional and private clients.
The Simmons & Simmons team was led by specialist Islamic Funds and Finance partner Muneer Khan. He was supported by Funds partner Neil Simmonds, Tax partner Nick Cronkshaw, counsel Ahmed Butt, managing associates James Oussedik and Mohammed Majid, supervising associates Nicole Suignard and Candice Nichol and associates Kristi Lehtis and Robert Nield.
Commenting on the launch, Muneer Khan, said: "This is a unique platform with a number of very innovative new features, including the fact that it covers both liquid and illiquid investment strategies within a single legal structure. This is the largest and most diverse Shariah-compliant platform to be launched in Luxembourg.
There is a huge shortage of high-quality Shariah-compliant products with diversity, efficiency and critical mass. However, we have experienced an increase in the pace of development in this area with products being designed to address the needs of sophisticated investors with growing wealth in the Middle East and South East Asia in particular. SEDCO Capital's platform is at the cutting edge of product development in this area, both in terms of scale and in terms of sophistication."
Hasan Al Jabri, Chief Executive of SEDCO Capital commented: "This is a ground-breaking new platform and the high quality specialist advice and support we have received from the team at Simmons & Simmons has been invaluable. We look forward to working together as we continue to grow and diversify our platform."
Other firms involved in advising on the project include Elvinger, Hoss & Prussen as local Luxembourg law counsel and Deloitte as auditor and Luxembourg tax adviser.
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Simmons & Simmons has an award-winning Islamic finance and funds team with recognised expertise in a broad range of practice areas. We advise conventional and Shariah-compliant financial institutions, fund managers, financial advisors and corporates globally on all aspects of Islamic finance and funds.
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© Press Release 2013
