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Ithmaar Bank, a Bahrain-based investment bank, has launched the $1 billion Ithmaar Kazyna CIS Energy Fund, in partnership with Kazyna Capital Management, a subsidiary of Kazakhstan's Sustainable Fund, Kazyna.
The Fund, which is expected to have a term of 10 years, will target Kazakhstan's and the Commonwealth of Independent States' (CIS) burgeoning requirement for investment in the energy, energy-related and energy-intensive sectors, and is expected to act as the catalyst for capital investment of up to $10 billion.
Ithmaar Bank CEO and board member Michael P. Lee and Kazyna chairman Arman Dunayev announced the Fund at a signing ceremony held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on the occasion of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the Middle East.
Ithmaar Bank chairman Khalid Abdulla Janahi is one of the Forum's five distinguished Co-Chairs, and one of only two selected from among the Arab world.
Mr Lee said: "Ithmaar Bank's vision to become the premier financial services group, operating globally from the Middle East, has seen us explore avenues for growth in emerging markets the world over. Our partnership with Kazyna marks our entry into the CIS countries, where the abundance of natural energy resources in the Caspian Basin is driving foreign direct investment into the developing economies of Kazakhstan and many of its neighbouring countries."
