(Bloomberg) — Janus Henderson Group Plc is pursuing opportunities in Saudi Arabia as it looks to grow its footprint in the Middle East and boost regional investment.
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Opening an office in the kingdom is a “likely outcome” for the global asset manager, though no official decision has been taken, according to Chief Executive Officer Ali Dibadj. Saudi national Baraa Amir was recently appointed as executive director for the Middle East and Africa and will help to “start laying the groundwork” for more investment in the region, he said.
“We’re looking to expand for sure because we see a lot of opportunity,” Dibadj said in an interview in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Sunday. “We are very focused on investing locally.”
Saudi Arabia has drawn increasing interest from Wall Street giants and investment titans over the past year as the kingdom embarks on a massive investment spree to back its economic diversification plans. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and BlackRock Inc. are among those that have moved to establish regional headquarters in Riyadh and State Street Corp. aims to launch more Saudi bond ETFs to give investors greater access to local debt.
Janus Henderson already manages assets in the “low double digit billions of dollars” on behalf of clients in the Middle East, including sovereign wealth funds and family offices, according to Dibadj.
The global asset manager has offices in the UAE and last year launched a private capital division focused on emerging markets after it acquired the private investments team of Kuwait’s largest bank.
Janus has been benefiting from the wave of institutional investors that are looking for easy ways to invest in both European and US collateralized loan obligations, an asset class that now totals over $1 trillion globally.
Last year, rival Fair Oaks Capital was first to launch an exchange-traded fund in Europe that tracks CLOs after years of chatter in the market. Janus Henderson followed suit last month and Invesco Ltd. has now entered the arena.
Dibadj said the Middle East should also be able to benefit from the frenzy of interest from investors.
“The beauty of that structure is that it is quite transportable,” Dibadj said. “This region can certainly get the benefit. Asia can get the benefit. So absolutely, yes, there will be more.”
Clients generally are becoming more interested in fixed income and seeking more exposure to those assets, he said.
