Manama, Sunday, 24 May 2015: Seera Investment Bank B.S.C.(c), a Shari'a compliant investment bank headquartered in Bahrain, announced the successful completion of a new transaction in the UK Dementia Care sector. The transaction comprises a Shari'a compliant equity investment in a dementia care focused housing development in London, United Kingdom. The development, the first of its kind, when completed will provide circa 115 housing units providing specialized care to dementia sufferers.
Mr. Hamad Al Ameeri, Seera's Chairman of the Board of Directors commented: "Dementia is one of the key challenges facing the UK as the current options for those with dementia are limited and in many cases unsuitable. Dementia currently costs the UK tax payers around £23bn a year and this cost is expected to rise to £50bn by 2040. The number of people in the UK currently living with dementia is estimated to be over 800,000, and this is forecast to double by 2050, an increase of 20,000 people on an annual basis. Surprisingly, there continues to be a lack of full service expertise and integrated care pathways. Therefore, we are really excited about this opportunity as this is a unique transaction addressing a critical social and healthcare need in the UK."
Mr. Al Ameeri, added: "This transaction's aim is to not only fill an important gap in providing specialized dementia care but also to provide unique scalable investment opportunity for Seera and its strategic co-investors."
Mr. Abdulla Janahi, Seera's Chief Executive Officer commented: "Seera has partnered with Apache Capital Partners, UK and its operating partner with expertise in dementia care. The aim is to provide world class dementia care and to become the first truly integrated dementia care provider by creating a purpose-built community that provides medical, nursing and personal care and top-class housing for people at all stages of the condition on a single site. Apache Capital Partners and its operating joint venture partner have put together a world class operational management team which includes the UK's leading experts on dementia and dementia care."
Mr. Janahi, further commented: "The project will be developed on a 1.19 acre freehold site in Clapham, London over a 3 to 4 year period. The units are expected to be sold over the development period with distribution of substantially all the originally invested capital in the 4th year of investment together with a part of the profits. Upon completion of the development the project will then be held to benefit from the ongoing care revenues. The project company is expected to be sold once steady state is reached in a year or two following return of initial investment to investors. The investment over the holding period is expected to generate very attractive risk adjusted returns for Seera and its investors."
On how this deal fits with Seera's investment approach he said "Seera's strategy is to invest in deals with strong fundamentals and in sectors which are not highly cyclical. We believe that given the low correlation of the dementia elderly care sector with economic cycles, the strong market fundamentals of the sector and the acute supply dynamics currently existing for this sector, this investment fits very well with this direction."
Seera has investments in the industrial manufacturing and transportation sectors in addition to smaller investments in the utilities and affordable housing sectors. The Bank's investment strategy is to maintain a diversified investment portfolio geographically and industry wise, focusing mainly on defensive sectors underpinned by strong fundamental demand, and to avoid speculation driven sectors.
John Dunkerley, Apache Capital Partners Chief Executive Officer commented, "We are delighted to have successfully concluded this transaction with the strategic backing of Seera. This transaction is part of our Social Infrastructure Investment Platform. This Platform has proven returns of identifying investment opportunities underpinned by substantial macro fundamentals and aggregating institutional grade portfolios and strategies at an early stage of their cycle. Building on sophisticated markets such as the US, and having taken three years to develop this dementia strategy alongside our operating partner, we believe there remains substantial arbitrage opportunities in the elderly care market in the UK which we are now capitalizing on behalf of our investors. We have already secured the second transaction and have a strong pipeline."
This press release has been issued by Seera PR & Corporate Communications department.
For further information, please contact:
Shahzad Iqbal, Chief Operating Officer
e-mail: siqbal@seera.com
About Seera Investment Bank
Incorporated in 2006 in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Seera Investment Bank B.S.C. (c) (Seera) is an Islamic Whole Sale Bank licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain with a paid-up capital of around US$ 146 million. Seera provides investment banking products and services in strict adherence to Shari'a rules and principles.
© Press Release 2015
