MANAMA: Securities Investment Company (SICO), licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain as a conventional wholesale bank, claims that all its Bahrain-domiciled equity funds have posted impressive returns so far this year, comfortably outperforming the market and competition.
SICO’s flagship Khaleej Equity Fund, which invests in GCC-listed equities, achieved a return of over 16 percent during the first four months of 2015, while the Gulf Equity Fund that invests in GCC-listed equities outside of Saudi Arabia was up over 11 percent during the same period. The SICO Kingdom Equity Fund, which invests in Saudi-listed equities, was the top performing SICO fund, having increased by 20 percent at the end of April.
SICO also reported that total assets under management during this period grew by over 10 percent to $1.1 billion from $980 million at the end of December 2014, as a result of new mandates received from regional institutional investors.
Najla Al-Shirawi, CEO at SICO, said: “This strong performance has vindicated our strategy to increase exposure in Saudi Arabia and the UAE at the beginning of the year due to their attractive valuations.”