February 2018 marks yet another milestone for La Française.
La Française group is committed to establishing a long-term presence in the Middle East and developing innovative investment solutions with and for GCC institutional investors. After the creation of the first Sharia compliant OPCI (collective direct real estate investment vehicle) dedicated to institutional investors in 2012, Global real estate securities investment firm, La Française Forum Securities has launched its first Sharia compliant Real Estate Securities separately managed account on behalf of an Islamic banking and investment services provider, based in Kuwait.
La Française Forum Securities, a La Française group member firm, is one of the few listed real estate investment specialists to offer an investment solution that associates the firm’s cycle-tested expertise in global real estate securities with the Sharia screening capabilities of IdealRatings.
IdealRatings Inc., (www.idealratings.com) founded in 2006, is a market leader in Islamic capital markets and a solutions provider for Responsible Investment solutions. They cover over 40 000 listed companies/securities, including some 2000 real estate securities, in over 150 countries. The IdealRatings solution is able to screen global listed securities for shariah compliance in accordance with any shariah rulebook.
La Française Forum Securities helps define the global real estate securities universe and will select securities with an above average risk adjusted total return, from a Sharia screened pool of about 150 securities. The portfolio is a concentrated one, with about 30 to 50 stocks.
Jana Sehnalova, Managing Director of La Française Forum Securities and portfolio manager, commented, “We have worked on developing this unique investment strategy for a few years and are very pleased to be able to bring it to life and offer institutional investors with an Islamic finance focus, from the Middle East and South East Asia or elsewhere, an opportunity to diversify their asset allocation with Sharia compliant real estate securities; this asset class is starting to be attractively valued again, with double digit discounts to NAV, and an ability to identify and exploit mispricing between public and private real estate markets globally. Recognizing the potential interest in this strategy, we are also investigating with Groupe La Francaise the viability of developing a fund as part of the existing product line managed by Groupe La Francaise.”
Mohammad Donia, CEO & President of IdealRatings commented, “We are excited to partner with a global leader like La Francaise, who strategized with us to break the barriers and create a new, innovative product solution for the Islamic Asset Management Industry and Islamic Capital Markets.”
About La Française
For forty years, La Française has been developing core competencies in third party asset management.
La Française has a multi-expertise business model organized around four core activities: securities, real estate, investment solutions and direct financing. The group caters to institutional and private clients throughout the world.
With 596 professionals and offices in Paris, Frankfurt, Geneva, Stamford (CT, USA), Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Seoul and Singapore, La Française manages over 66 billion euros in assets (31/12/2017).
Credit Mutuel Nord Europe (“CMNE”), a banking and insurance group present in Northern France and Belgium with total regulatory capital of €3.3bn as at 31/12/2017, holds 91% of the voting rights of La Française (as at 01/01/2018). La Française employees and management are also shareholders in the company.
