UAE’s NBAD Launches Real Estate Fund

National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s top bank by market capitalization, has partnered with Kuwaiti firm Gulf Investment Corp in launching a real estate fund.

“In the future, it is our intention to bring this fund to an initial public offering, thereby creating what we expect to the region’s first Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT),” Mahmoud al-Aradi, senior general manager of NBAD’s financial markets division said in a statement.

The fund will focus on high-quality income generating properties in the UAE where property prices have fallen sharply since the 2008 global financial crisis.

It will be launched with a seed capital of 100 million dirhams ($27.23 million) with NBAD and Gulf Investment pooling in 50 million dirhams each.

Aradi told reporters in Dubai that the parties expect to start raising money for the fund soon, Reuters reported.