Banking &
Finance
Banking&
Finance
STANDARD
CHARTERED PRIVATE
EQUITY ANNOUNCES
A US$ 50 MILLION
EQUITY INVESTMENT
IN SOUQ.COM
Investment is SCPE’s first in
a MENA e-commerce
platform and seventh
transaction in the region
S
tandard Chartered Private
Equity (“SCPE”) has made
a $50 million equity investment, as part of a $275 million consortium, for a minority
stake in Souq.com, the Middle
East’s largest online marketplace. The investment will support the company’s growth,
strengthen e-commerce in the
region, and empower more
businesses to grow online.
Investors alongside SCPE in this
round include New York-based
Tiger Global Management and
South Africa’s Naspers Ltd.,
which have each invested in
Souq.com in earlier funding
rounds. Souq.com has also
added new strategic investors
to diversify its investor base, including Baillie Gifford, the International Finance Corporation,
as well as many international,
regional and tech-driven financial institutions. Souq.com’s previous investment from Naspers
was for USD 75 million in 2014.
Successful completion of this
latest round of funding makes
Souq.com the highest valued
internet company in the region.
This is SCPE’s seventh investment in the Middle East and
North Africa (MENA), its first
investment in a MENA based
e-commerce platform, and
takes overall MENA direct investments to $660 million.
SCPE is committed to investing in successful regional businesses across sectors and is
actively seeking opportunities across the Middle East.
Taimoor Labib, Regional Head
of MENA Private Equity & Head
of Global Private Equity Portfolio Management at SCPE said:
“We are excited to be participating in this unique regional
retail opportunity with a top
notch management team and
shareholder group. The disruptive nature which online
businesses pose to traditional
brick and mortar enterprises
continues to evolve and Souq.
com is well positioned as the
clear regional market leader.”
Ronaldo Mouchawar, CEO of Souq.
com said:
“We believe new investors in
this round like SCPE will bring
great value to the company as
we broaden our investor base
and these institutions have a
great international footprint
which will be important to take
the company to the next level”
SCPE is the private equity arm
of Standard Chartered Bank.
SCPE invests in companies in
News
need of growth capital and buyouts. SCPE focuses on companies whose principal operations
and management are located
in Asia, Africa or the Middle
East. It is an active partner that
provides board-level strategic
advice and access to the international network of Standard
Chartered Bank. Since inception in 2002 SCPE has invested
in excess of US$ 7 billion in over
100 companies across Asia,
Africa and the Middle East.
HENYEP CAPITAL
MARKETS (DIFC)
LIMITED, DUBAI
INTERNATIONAL
FINANCIAL CENTER
H
enyep Group, a global leader in capital markets trading, has recently rebranded its
UAE operations within the DIFC
to unify its offices worldwide
and to reflect the broad range of
capital markets products on offer to their retail clients. Effective
immediately, their DFSA regulated Company, Henyep Investment Bank Limited will now be
known as Henyep Capital Ma