Page 42 - ICD AR21 EN

3.7.2 Portfolio Management Program
Under its Portfolio Management Program, ICD
invests and monitors funds across geographic
markets of interest with a strong focus on SMEs.
ICD aims to improve access to finance for SMEs in member countries and offers a range of customized investment products, risk capital and technical assistance by partnering with top-tier local fund managers. At present, ICD has investments in three funds: the Tunisia “Theemar” Fund and the Saudi “Afaq” SME Fund, in addition to the ICD Global Sustainable Fund (GSF). The SME Fund’s investment period is over, and it is currently in the phase of exit from the invested underlying entities.
3.7.2.1 ICD Global Sustainable Fund
ICD’s Global Sustainable Fund (GSF) is an actively managed Shari’ah compliant fund focusing on the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) arena, targeting listed global equities which employ a combination of alpha- and beta-driven strategies across equity capital markets. ICD is proud to have launched one of the first Shari’ah compliant listed equities funds in the growing ESG and sustainability space, and to date has generated lucrative premiums and resource mobilization targets at approximately 11x over ICD commitment. The fund is managed by Saturna Capital.
For the calendar year ending December 2021, the ICD GSF climbed 14.6% compared with 19.0% for the benchmark MSCI ACWI Islamic Index. In terms of AUM, it closed the year with USD 61.9 million with a cumulative appreciation of net value asset of 48% since inception. The Fund’s performance was a result of Shari’ah and ESG asset allocation strategy
Key sectors driving
ICD's GSF performance were information technology, consumer staples and communication services.
dominance and sectorial diversification in defensive and winning sectors. Key sectors driving performance were information technology (+318 basis points relative contribution), consumer staples (+45 basis points), and communication services (+33 basis points).
3.7.2.2Theemar Investment Fund (Tunisia) The Theemar Investment Fund is a closed-end Shari’ah-compliant fund with AUM of TND 25 million (USD 16.1 million at historical rate on launch date) approved by the Financial Market Council of Tunisia. The investment objective of the Fund is to provide equity funding to SMEs in Tunisia, with a targeted allocation of 80% in private companies and 20% in publicly traded companies. The Fund is managed by United Gulf Financial Services-North Africa (UGFS), an asset management company established in November 2008, licensed by and working under
the control of Tunisian Capital Market Authorities.
ICD invested a total amount of TND 10 million
(USD 5.2 million at historical rates) and owns 40%
of the Fund. The Fund has invested TND 26.6 million in 10 SMEs since inception, helping them to achieve growth, expand, improve operations and reach out
to new markets. The portfolio is well diversified across various sectors including IT, food & beverage, automotive, healthcare, and more. Three of those investments have been fully or partially exited to date.
In December 2021, the Fund life was extended by unit holders for one additional year. This is the last possible extension of Fund life and therefore the Fund will be aiming to exit from all the underlying investments in 2022. During the extension period, the Fund Manager will continue working closely with investee companies, applying individual approaches in order to achieve successful exits and high returns for unit holders.
3.7.2.3 Saudi “Afaq” SME Fund (KSA)
The Saudi “Afaq” SME Fund is a closed-end Shari’ah compliant fund with AUM of SAR 400 million
(USD 107 million) approved by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) of Saudi Arabia. Its investment objective is to provide mezzanine financing to SMEs
40 ICD ANNUAL REPORT 2021