Khaled Fouad, Chief Investment Officer at KAMCO

KUWAIT: KAMCO Investment Company, a leading investment company with one of the largest AUMs in the region, announced KAMCO Real Estate Yield Fund's (KREYF) acquisition of approximately 16,500 sq. meters of commercial real estate in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The company stated that the step towards acquiring the property, which consists of storage space rented by one of the leading retail companies in the region, is a key element in KREYF's core strategy to increase revenue while achieving the best returns for investors in the fund. In a related development, the company announced the Fund's ongoing success in terms of reaching a weighted average occupancy rate of 93% and growing the Fund's size by 195% since inception, which demonstrates the market demand for such income-generating products.

In addition to that, the Fund managed to increase its rate of return since inception to 7.4% and to distribute USD 0.10 as cash dividends per unit for investors by the end of June 2016. On this occasion, Khaled Fouad, Chief Investment Officer at KAMCO said, "The acquisition move was a strategic one in terms of the property's location, which overlooks four roads granting easy access in and out of the area. Aside from the location, the variety of additional investment advantages the property has to offer will help enhance the Funds' performance as a whole."

"KREYF has achieved a remarkable level of performance across all terms, especially in comparison to the performance of similar funds in the market since the date of inception. The Fund managed to distribute quarterly returns that exceed those of a regular savings account for the sixth consecutive quarter. An increase in the Fund's volume of assets under management since inception, which represents 195%, is a crucial element in the Fund's performance strategy to provide investors with consistent returns at the lowest possible risk," he added.

Khaled Fouad continued to say, "KAMCO is persistent towards providing varied strategic investment products and services of which are low-risk and income generating, to ensure that we progressively deliver higher rates of returns to investors. KREYF is characterized by its prudent investment strategy, aiming to generate steady cash flows during the investment period, via the distribution of quarterly cash dividends. The fund, which is US Dollar dominated with a minimal subscription of 5,000 units at the subscribed month's NAV per unit, provides the investor with an option to redeem units semi-annually upon the end of a one year lock-in period."