Markab Capital - US$400 Million Real Estate Acquisition

LONDON, July 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- Successful Conclusion of Middle East Real Estate London Acquistion With a Market Capitalisation of Over £250,000,000

The principals of Markab are extremely pleased to announce that they have successfully assisted in the acquisition of Prime Investments Group Limited ("Prime") by Phoenician Corporation V Limited ("PV"). The transaction represents a major purchase of unleveraged real estate assets acquired by Prime at distressed prices.  The new enlarged entity now trades on the PLUS Stock Exchange in London under the name "Prime Investments International Limited" ("PIIL").  

Spencer Wilson, Managing Director of Markab and an experienced real estate investor, was, prior to the acquisition, PV's largest individual shareholder and a company director.  

PIIL's primary objective is to identify real estate and other investments predominantley in the Middle East and North Africa. The main asset of Prime as at the closing of the acquisition is a land bank of 67 plots which have a gross floor area of 21,905,000 square feet in a project known as the Eye of Ajman located at the junction of Emirates Road and Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Street 104 in Ajman, United Arab Emirates. Ernst & Young in Dubai have independent valued the said real estate at approximately $400,000,000 resulting in a market capitalization upon closing of £253,201,313.

PV acquired the entire issued share capital of Prime in consideration for the issuance by it of a combination of shares and warrants which are exercisable over a five year period. These consideration shares are now fully tradable on the exchange.

PIIL's investment strategy is to acquire a mixture of immediate cash generating assets and capital appreciating assets that are, where possible, Shari'ah compliant.

Commenting on the acquisition, Spencer Wilson remarked:

"There were many factors which made this acquisition a little more complex than other transactions; such as the cross border legal and financing issues and overcoming cultural differences. I am delighted at the performance of Markab's team in assisting with these and getting the deal closed.  The Markab team consists of english and arabic speaking financiers, lawyers and other professionals, and all of these skills were called upon particularly in areas related to working capital and corporate governance.

The acquisition greatly enhances the shareholder value of the enlarged group and has highlighted the appetite for London-Middle East transactions in one form or another."

About Markab:

Markab Capital is the advisory and merchant banking arm of several large Middle Eastern and European family holding companies engaged in financial services. The families financial groups, established in the 1970's, operate in merchant banking, private equity and credit risk management and employ over 1500 professionals worldwide.

For further information please contact the team at Markab Capital at info@markabcapital.com