Riyadh: November 3, 2008

Kenmore Property Group, the trading, development and co-investing property Fund Manager with operations in Europe and the Middle East, and Watan Investment and Securities, the Saudi Arabian investment banking firm, are today pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to form a strategic alliance (the ‘Alliance). 

The Alliance has been created to capitalize on the proven track record and expertise in finance and real estate shared by the two companies, with a view to providing greater penetration and exploiting new investment opportunities across the markets in which they operate. Saudi Arabia is a market that is expected to see solid growth over the next five years as both demographic factors and market liberalization strengthen demand across all sectors of the real estate market.

The key aims of the Alliance are:

·         To provide a structure and conduit for raising funds within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (‘KSA’) for investment in Kenmore managed funds and property investments in the United Kingdom and other European countries;

·         To provide a platform that will enable Kenmore to provide core real estate services of asset and development management in KSA, building on its existing capability in Dubai;

·         To explore opportunities to create a KSA domiciled fund (the ‘Fund’) that will invest in KSA and across the Gulf Cooperation Council (‘GCC’). Watan Investment will act as fund manager and custodian and Kenmore will provide real estate advisory services.  The Fund will be launched in 2009, subject to market conditions. 

Kenmore has built a 20 year track record in the European real estate market where it has been active in trading, development and asset management, as well as the creation of both closed and open ended real estate funds, one of which is a closed ended publicly traded vehicle listed on the London Stock Exchange. Watan Investment is licensed and authorized by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) to provide investment banking services such as trading in Securities, Arranging and Advising, Asset and Wealth Management, Custody and Research. It currently has operations geographically covering the Saudi market.

Commenting, Dr Ihsan A Bu-Hulaiga, Chairman and Managing Director of Watan Investments and Securities, said:

“The creation of this strategic Alliance provides both companies with access to knowledge, skills and relationships which will enable us to capitalize on the opportunities that exist within the Middle Eastern and European real estate markets. We are seeing strong appetite from investors to gain access to new markets and we believe that this association with Kenmore, with their strong 20 year track record of creating and managing specialist real estate funds on behalf of third parties will be a compelling offer for our clients.”

John Kennedy, Chairman of Kenmore Property Group, said:

“Kenmore has expanded its operations across Europe and the Middle East by creating platform businesses which enable it to use its real estate skills to create new investment opportunities. The formation of this alliance with Watan will provide Kenmore with greater opportunities not only to expand in Saudi Arabia, a new market, but to use our existing European platform to identify new opportunities for investors who are looking to expand their investment arena outside their home markets.”