Najd Investments Receives Licence to Operate from the Dubai International Financial Centre

Boutique Advisory's DIFC Office to Cover Operations Across The GCC region

Najd Investments Ltd today announced the opening of its Dubai office following the award of a licence by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) to operate from the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

Najd Investments is a boutique advisory and arranging business, which specialises in advising enterprises based in the GCC and investors seeking regional ventures. Najd Investments' strategy is focused on offering Investment Banking Services to the untapped and large sector of the small and medium enterprise (SME) market within the GCC region. SMEs account for over 80% of businesses in the region yet they account for a tiny proportion of financial fee revenue. Setting up in DIFC provides Najd Investments with an internationally-recognised regulatory framework that allows the firm to successfully link institutional investors with regional SMEs.

H.E. Ahmed Humaid Al Tayer, Governor of the Dubai International Financial Centre said: “DIFC’s legal and regulatory framework has been designed to provide financial institutions a stable and growth-oriented business environment to operate in. This environment gives companies across the industry spectrum the security and certainty necessary to establish financial and investment linkages. By virtue of its regulatory framework, DIFC provides Najd Investments with the ideal platform for linking institutional investors with regional SMEs.”

Abdulla Mohammed Al Awar, Chief Executive Officer of the DIFC Authority, said: “We are very happy to welcome Najd Investments to the DIFC community. As part of expanding the Corporate Finance  services sector in the DIFC, we are keen to bring providers of advisory and arrangement services like Najd Investments to the DIFC. The firm's unique advisory and arrangement services specifically targeted to  the Small and Medium sector will add to the diversity of the pool of financial expertise available within the DIFC community. We look forward to providing Najd Investments with the support necessary to establish their operations and expand their business.”

Nizar Al Shubaily, CEO of Najd Investments said: “Najd Investments was founded with the mission of providing sophisticated boutique corporate finance services to the largely untapped  sector of the GCC Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which are increasingly unable to achieve their full financial and strategic goals without the assistance of a dedicated investment bank”

“We know that there is a vast opportunity in the GCC SME sector, especially in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where the founders hail from. Regional SMEs operate as niche players in fragmented industries below the radar of Institutional Investment Banks and Private Equity Funds who have limited access to regional business networks and relationships but unlimited access to capital,” he added.

Tara Armes, Managing Director of Najd Investments added: “Our strategy was defined by the current need for a regional advisory firm that does not focus on obtaining large quantities of investors and speed of exit of  investment opportunities, but rather on a strategy of providing long-term sustainable guidance and investment advice.“There is a regional tendency to confuse speculative investment in companies immediately prior to listing with a private equity investment which entails a much longer term and participatory undertaking. As a result there is an inclination to over pay and more importantly disregard smaller opportunities,” she added.