An award-winning real estate fund has made some key sales and purchase in the UAE to improve the quality of its portfolio.

Emirates NBD Asset Management said recent changes to boost the portfolio held by its Emirates Real Estate Fund included the sale of two buildings in Sharjah, the refurbishment of Arabian Oryx Tower in Tecom and the acquisition of 110,000 sq ft of commercial offices in the Burj Daman Building within the DIFC.  

The fund had won ‘Real Estate Fund of the Year’ at the 2016 Mena Fund Manager Performance Awards, which were held in Dubai, UAE, last month.

It marked the second consecutive year that the asset management arm of Emirates NBD, has won the award.

The $461 million fund, led by Tim Rose, Head of Real Estate at Emirates NBD Asset Management (Emirates NBD AM) is the largest and longest established fund managed by the firm. 

The fund is a Shari’a compliant open-ended portfolio, structured with the objective of generating rental income and achieving capital appreciation in the mid-to-long term, through a diverse selection of directly held real estate assets, predominantly in the UAE. 

The fund has a proven track record of delivering a consistent performance, with an unlevered +48 per cent return over the past four years and 6.53 per cent return in 2015. The fund paid out a dividend of 5.75 per cent to income shareholders in 2015, continuing its strong income generation track record. 

Commenting on the recognition, Tariq Bin Hendi, Chief Executive Officer, Emirates NBD Asset Management, said, “We are delighted to win this award for the second year running. This is a great testament to the quality and sustained performance of the Emirates Real Estate Fund, which has been in existence for over a decade and has delivered consistent returns to investors, both in terms of regular dividend payments and long term growth.”

The Mena Fund Manager Performance Awards are presented to firms based on overall performance, as well as qualitative and structural criteria. The judging panel represents the industry's leading institutional and private investors, as well as industry experts. 

The seventh edition of the awards represented the single largest gathering of regionally-based fund managers in the industry’s calendar.

The Dubai-based Emirates NBD is a leading banking group in the region. It is a major player in the UAE corporate and retail banking arena and has strong Islamic banking, global markets & treasury, investment banking, private banking, asset management and brokerage operations.

The Group has operations in the UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the UK and representative offices in India, China and Indonesia.