Kuwait, 10 December 2009
The Kuwait Investment Opportunities Fund organized last week an “NBK Capital Seminar Series” event at the JW Marriott. The event was titled “Private Companies & Private Equity: The Value Proposition”, and was conducted by the National Offset Company (NOC), National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), and NBK Capital.
This series is an ongoing private event in which innovation and thought leaders from the different aspects of the financial sector share their insights and knowledge with interested professionals and investors regionally. This is the second of the series following a highly successful event in Dubai earlier this year which focused on Mezzanine financing.
Mr. Faisal Al-Hamad, Director of the Kuwait Investment Opportunities Fund explained, “The aim of the event was to highlight the benefits that private equity brings to private companies, and more importantly, to provide support and valuable insight through the discussions scheduled throughout the day.”
The seminar series involved four presentations, the first of which was conducted by the NOC’s General Manager, Mazen Madooh, he highlighted Kuwait’s offset policy and activities. Since the inception of the Kuwait Offset Program in 1992, the value of obligations has been $3.46 billion distributed by 126 contracts. Mr. Madooh also highlighted some of the major success stories of the NOC program so far, which are mostly focused on the education sector and include the financing of the aviation and vessel operation simulator and training facilities for the Australian College of Kuwait.
Following the NOC’s, NBK delivered two presentations, in the first of which Mr. Mazen Al-Nahedh gave an overview of NBK and highlited how NBK can benefit small to medium enterprises. Mr. Elias Bikhazi then gave a detailed presentation on the macroeconomic situation locally and regionally. This was followed by NBK Capital’s Faisal Al-Hamad, who highlighted the benefits that private equity brings to private companies in his presentation.
Mr. Mazen Madooh, General Manager of the National Offset Company said, “This event can be considered as a reflection of the philosophy and ideas of the offset program which aims to benefit Kuwait socially and financially through its focus on vital sectors such as education, healthcare, and technology."
The event was attended by private company CEO’s and general managers and the afternoon session included seminars by Ernst & Young, Al-Sarraf & Al-Ruwayeh, and Mudara Institute of Directors, in which each covered their area of expertise and helped attendees with any questions they had regarding their own companies.
