The net profit of Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund (SWF), Mumtalakat, dropped by 73.5%, according to its 2018 results.
The fund still made a net profit of $148.4 million, a significant drop on the $560.1 million made in 2017.
Mumtalakat has a stake in over 60 companies including key Bahraini companies Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) and telecoms provider Batelco. A statement from the SWF partially attributed the decline in profit to the increase in the cost of raw materials last year.
“Net profit in 2017 included fair value gain on de-recognition of associates of $667 million while a higher cost of raw materials in 2018 led to a fall in Alba’s profits,” it stated.
Mumtalakat did, however, grow both its revenue and its assets in 2018. Revenue totalled $5.5 billion, up by 38% on the previous year, while assets grew from $15.4 billion to $16.8 billion.
Mahmood H Alkooheji, chief executive at Mumtalakat, added: “In 2018 alone, we committed $181 million to local and international investments encompassing two new local acquisitions and seven international investments across different geographies and sectors including real estate, technology and agriculture.”
The same year, Mumtalakat committed $100 million to Al Waha fund of funds, which aims to provide funding access to Bahrain’s startup industry by investing in technology, fintech and smart cities.
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