Bahrain's Arcapita To Boost Investments In The US

Arcapita, a Bahrain-based Shari’ah compliant alternative investment firm, plans to accelerate investments in the United States following a string of acquisitions in 2018, according to CEO Atif Ahmed Abdulmalik.

In November, Arcapita announced that it acquired a seven-property industrial real estate portfolio in Cleveland, Ohio, totalling 655,000 square feet of industrial assets.

Other US deals in 2018 included a portfolio of senior living properties in Chicago, bringing the firm’s total assets under management in the sector to $350 million.

“[We] are currently evaluating several promising senior living, student housing and industrial portfolios across the US and expect to close on two additional real estate transactions this year,” Abdulmalik told Arabian Business.

Demographic tailwinds

Abdulmalik added that Arcapita hopes to capitalise on “demographic tailwinds” in the US, where the ‘Baby Boomer’ generation is estimated to control 70 percent of the population’s disposable income and by 2022 is expected to inherit $15 trillion from parents and spouses.

“Arcapita’s core management team has established a strong track record in the senior living real estate sector, with eight transactions completed worth a total transaction value of approximately $1.8 billion,” he said.

“Senior living remains a key focus area for the firm and management is continuing to monitor opportunities in the healthcare and consumer services sectors that cater to this age demographic.”

Abdulmalik said the US – where the company has been operating since 1998 – remains a core market for Arcapita.

“We have established a strong asset sourcing network,” he said. “We continue to leverage our relationships in the market to source proprietary transactions and going forward we expect our US investment activity to accelerate, especially within the real estate segment as we continue to expand our senior living and industrial platforms.”

Across the US and MENA, Abdulmalik said that Arcapita expects to close an additional three or four transactions in 2019 with a total transaction value of between $300 and $400 million.