EPF launches world’s first and largest Shariah PE fund of RM2.43b

Chief EPF Officer, Alizakri Alias said: “We are proud to be the first institutional investor to establish a Shariah-compliant PE direct/co-investment fund and this is the largest of its kind globally, with a global investment mandate."

KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has launched the world’s first and largest Shariah private equity (PE) fund in the world with an allocation of US$600mil or RM2.43bil.

The EPF said in the statement on Friday it will have three direct/co-investment separate managed accounts (SMA) of US$200mil each.

Each will be managed by three private equity fund managers – BlackRock, HarbourVest Partners LLC, and Partners Group AG.

They will have a global mandate that focuses on direct and co-investment strategies into growth and buyout transactions.

The investment period is from 2021 to 2025 while the fund term will run from 2021 to 2031, subject to further extensions with EPF’s consent.

Chief EPF Officer, Alizakri Alias said: “We are proud to be the first institutional investor to establish a Shariah-compliant PE direct/co-investment fund and this is the largest of its kind globally, with a global investment mandate.

“The EPF has been working on this initiative since 2018 as we seek to diversify our investment portfolio to ensure we can provide sustainable returns to our members.”

Alizakri said the EPF has great confidence in the three asset managers to carry out the direct and coinvestment activities on the Fund’s behalf, as they have a long history of investing into private equity and several exposures in managing Shariah-compliant mandates.”

The EPF’s PE arm has a global funds exposure with strategies covering growth, buyout, middle-market capitalised and large-market capitalised strategies totaling 106 active investments with a total commitment of US$12.05bil.

As of the second quarter of 2020, the top three regions in which EPF has invested under PE mandates are North America (42%), Europe (21%) and Greater China (12%).

The SMAs have appointed Amanie Advisors Ltd, Dubai and ZICO Shariah Advisory Services Sdn Bhd as the Shariah advisors to ensure that all investments are Shariah-compliant.

The SMAs were structured based on either a Wakalah structure, or a combination of both Wakalah and Murabahah structures which will be subjected to Shariah investment guidelines.