SHUAA announces Senior Executive promotions

13 April 2021

SHUAA Capital psc (DFM: SHUAA), the leading asset management and investment banking platform in the region, today announced the promotion of two of its senior executives. Ajit Joshi, Head of Public and Private Markets, has been promoted to Managing Director, Head of Public and Private Markets, taking on additional responsibility for managing SHUAA’s technology investments, while Natasha Hannoun has been promoted to Head of Debt, with a focus to expand SHUAA’s existing alternative finance platform across senior and mezzanine direct lending, distressed and non-performing loans, acquisition finance and venture debt. Both Ajit and Natasha report directly to Jassim Alseddiqi, Group CEO of SHUAA Capital.

Commenting on the promotions, Jassim Alseddiqi, Group CEO of SHUAA Capital, said: “At SHUAA, we have a wealth of expertise and an exceptionally talented team of people to deliver excellence in everything we do, supporting the execution of our growth and product diversification strategy. I am pleased to recognize Ajit and Natasha with these well-deserved promotions for their important contributions to innovating and advancing SHUAA’s asset management and debt financing capabilities as we continue to create value for our stakeholders.”

Ajit possesses over 16 years of experience in technology consulting, equity research, investment banking, and asset management, and joined the Group in 2014. He is also the fund manager of Goldilocks Investment Company Limited, an investment fund launched in 2015, and the recently launched SHUAA ICC Funds platform. Most recently, Ajit led the equity and debt buyout transaction for a landmark restructuring of Stanford Marine Group. Ajit also serves on the boards of Eshraq Investments PJSC, Takaful Emarat PJSC, Stanford Marine Group subsidiaries and various SHUAA group companies.

Natasha joined the Group in 2014 and during her tenor at SHUAA, has structured over USD 7 billion of loans, including real estate development loans, last mile financing and corporate mezzanine debt. Most recently, Natasha led the innovative USD 50 million structured Sukuk for Pure Harvest Smart Farms. She has over 10 years of extensive experience in advisory, origination, structuring, due diligence and execution across multiple asset classes including Private Equity and Debt, Real Estate and Fixed Income.

SHUAA and its subsidiaries (the “Group”) recently announced its FY 2020 results, delivering a net profit attributable to shareholders of AED 125 million, an increase of 168% year-on-year, with continued strong EBITDA generation, which increased to AED 349 million, an increase of 89% year-on-year. Based on the strong profitability growth, the Board proposed a dividend of 3 fils per share for the 2020 financial year, the first dividend following the Group’s transformational merger in 2019.

2021