GFH Financial Group announced its ongoing growth and diversification with the launch of GFH Partners Ltd (“GFH Partners”), a fully-owned subsidiary focused on expanding the Group’s global asset management capabilities with a particular focus on the real estate sector, where GFH Partners currently manages over US$6 billion of real estate assets as part of the total US$18 billion of assets managed by the Group.
GFH Partners manages assets in the stabilized and core markets of the US, the UK, KSA and UAE, where it aims to capture and capitalize on strong economic growth prospects in these regions. GFH Partners offers institutional and professional clients holistic investment solutions through a variety of products that include funds, separately managed accounts and direct deals. In doing so, GFH Partners employs a thematic approach, focusing on sectors where the Group has a proven track record. This includes industrial and logistics assets, residential, student housing as well as healthcare. These themes and sectors are chosen based on fundamentals and solid tailwinds that provide investors with opportunities that offer stabilized, low risk returns over the holding periods.
GFH Partners’ affiliate in the UK, Roebuck Asset Management, is a pan-European asset management company specialising in UK and European logistics that has transacted over €2.5 billion since its formation in 2009. In recent years, GFH has transacted over US$4 billion in the industrial logistics sector, with assets leased to credit-rated tenants including Amazon, FedEx, General Mills and Michelin, among others. GFH Partners’ US-based affiliates include SQ Asset Management, a US-based living sector asset and property manager focused on student housing with more than US$1.4 billion in aggregate transaction value and with 32 housing properties and 10,300 beds currently under management across the US, and Big Sky Asset Management, a US-based real estate asset manager focused on the defensive healthcare segment with more than 20 years of experience in investing and managing healthcare assets and over US$2 billion in cumulative transaction value.
Globally, GFH Partners’ strategy for growth continues to be fueled by acquiring strategic stakes in well positioned asset managers in the sectors that are core to its business. Credibility, caliber and unique access to opportunities define GFH Partners’ key value proposition for its investors. In the GCC, GFH Partners intends to deploy its expertise in the same themes of logistics, student housing, residential and healthcare-related assets through the establishment and acquisition of focused platforms in each of these areas.
Leading GFH Partners is Nael Mustafa, who has been driving the Group’s global real estate investment strategy and growth since 2020 and brings to GFH Partners more 30 years of experience in private equity and real estate investments across regional and international markets.
Commenting, Mr. Mustafa, Chief Executive Officer of GFH Partners, said, “We’re pleased to announce the launch of GFH Partners, with an ambitious mission of growing the Group’s global footprint and portfolio of real estate and private equity assets across well-chosen segments of the market. With a proven track record of success, a well-seasoned team and deep knowledge of our target markets, we are well-positioned to capture opportunities and deliver high caliber asset management services and products that meet the needs of our investors. Leveraging our reach, regulatory and business set-up as well as the access provided by our partners on the ground, our aim is to continuously provide a strong pipeline of opportunities to our investors and look forward to accelerating our business and assets under management growth in the US, UK, KSA and UAE.”
GFH Partners is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), and its investments and offerings are further regulated by respective domiciles, including regional regulators such as the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) and the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA), as well as respective global regulators of the investment vehicles, ensuring best practices in line with global investment standards.
