ING aims to raise $5bn in region

TAPPING GROWTH: ING has said it plans to raise up to $5 billion in the MENA region over the next three years. (Getty Images)

The ING Group, a Netherlands-based global financial services firm, plans to raise up to $5 billion in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) over the next three years through investment funds, with a specific aim to tap into the Saudi market.

ING has established an office in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and aims to enter Saudi Arabia by next year.

“Entering the Saudi market is a big part of our strategy,” said Grant Bailey, regional CEO of ING at a press conference in Dubai on Tuesday.

“It will go beyond investments in a fund, we plan to isolate specific stocks and pick and choose among them rather than picking up the market through a fund.”

The investment group will launch a "long-only" MENA equity fund in the third quarter of this year with a target size of $1 billion in one year’s time.

The fund will be domiciled in the Cayman Islands, though ING’s initial strategy was to domicile the fund in Bahrain in to tap the Saudi market.

The global investment group plans to follow the MENA equity fund with a fixed income fund by the end of 2008, and aims to venture into alternative investments including private equity by next year.

“For now ING is unique in that we are the only international asset management firm in the Middle East to set up a local engine with absolute global reach,” said Bailey.

Investments in Jordan, Morocco and Egypt comprise 1.23% of ING’s emerging markets portfolio, and the firm’s aim is to increase exposure to the Middle East to 5 to 6 percent by next year and exploring options in Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.

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