Jadwa funds fly high after turbulence

* username: rupertbu

Asset managers live and die by their funds’ performances but, after last year’s turbulent financial markets, some local players can still hold their head high when they meet their investors.

There are myriad funds that invest in the Middle East. Some focus on sectors such as petrochemicals or banking, others on larger markets such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. However, most funds concentrate either on the Middle East and north Africa region (Mena), or the narrower Gulf Co-operation Council country markets.

According to figures compiled for the Financial Times by Lipper, the mutual fund data provider, the best-performing non-sector-specific Gulf-focused fund last year was Jadwa Investment’s Jadwa GCC Equity, which returned 29.6 per cent, compared with the 9.2 per cent average of 47 funds registered by Lipper. The MSCI GCC Index rose 15.9 per cent last year.