Mumtalakat buys property in US

Manama : Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (Mumtalakat), the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Bahrain, announced yesterday its acquisition of an office campus in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, the United States of America in partnership with Sentinel Real Estate Investment Corporation (Sentinel). This is the first joint venture with Sentinel, a New York-based real estate investment management firm.

A signing ceremony was held at Mumtalakat’s offices yesterday in the presence of Mahmood H. Alkooheji, Chief Executive Officer of Mumtalakat and John H. Streicker, Chairman of Sentinel.

The state-of-the-art Class A campus is fully leased to Lenovo, a Fortune 500 global technology leader and one of the largest PC makers in the world. Located in the heart of Research Triangle Park, a 7,000-acre (over 28 square kilometres) dedicated scientific research park in the United States, the campus provides strong cash flows, attractive yields and solid rent growth. Research Triangle Park houses over 250 companies in which more than 50,000 people work. It continues to recruit and retain some of the world’s leading corporations and rapidly growing technology and innovation firms.

Commenting on the acquisition, Mahmood H. Alkooheji, Chief Executive Officer of Mumtalakat said, “With this transaction, the sector represents approximately 22% of our total portfolio companies.”

John H. Streicker, Chairman of Sentinel, said of the transaction, “We are very pleased to be venturing with Mumtalakat on this first joint acquisition. Sentinel is very comfortable with the Raleigh-Durham market.”