Bonyan REIT Fund

The Fund owns and operates 11 revenue-generating properties across a wide range of sectors including commercial centers, residential compounds and business and suite hotels. These properties have a well-established tenancy base, which contributes to the Fund’s overall cash flows. Since launching three years ago, the Fund has paid dividends amounting to SAR 224.6 million, and as of December 31 2020, the fair value of its properties was SAR 1.92 billion. Since inception, the Fund has generated a total annualized return of 13.94%.

One feature that sets Bonyan REIT Fund apart is that its assets are pioneers in new experiences for consumers. Award-winning entertainment, dining and leisure offerings, combined with the latest technology, give customers a reason to go to malls instead of shopping online.

The Bonyan REIT Fund manager believes that the REIT sector in Saudi Arabia has yet to reach its maturity and, accordingly, is ripe for growth in the forthcoming years. Strong GDP projections, continued access to financing, and increased tourism will lead to additional institutional-grade capital and assets becoming available, in addition to more individuals investing into REITs.

The fund is well placed to capitalize on these trends. All of its assets are designed with a lifestyle mindset and its core values are aligned with Vision 2030, promoting culture and entertainment. The malls and hotels it invests in will contribute to the enrichment of families, and communities at large by providing an interactive place to visit, play or stay. Moreover, Bonyan REIT Fund directly and indirectly employs a workforce of over 600 personnel, with women forming a growing demographic.

About Bonyan REIT Fund

Bonyan REIT Fund’s assets are pioneers in bringing in new experiences for end-consumers. The award-winning entertainment, dining, and leisure components plus the latest technology are the elements that enrich retail centers. They motivate and give consumers reason to visit malls instead of shopping online. The trio of malls offers a robust menu of lifestyle and entertainment choices that span health and wellness centers to spaces for arts and music events, creating a brand that more shoppers can relate to and want to frequent.

The entire fund's assets are designed with a lifestyle mindset whilst aligning their core values with Vision 2030 – promoting culture and entertainment. The five elements present across Bonyan REIT malls and hotels are as follows:

1. We use design to engrain the “wow!” factor into the mall’s brand. In today’s world, a mall is not complete without some form of entertainment and leisure. No mall owner takes that maxim as far as Al-Rashid brand, whose malls have a combined built-up area exceeding 300,000 m². Its renowned leisure centers feature leading kids’ entertainment areas and wellness facilities.
2. We expand common spaces to create more points of convergence and grandeur. Common spaces are big draws for Al-Rashid malls, and spaces are actively utilized to create public awareness campaigns such as Breast Cancer Awareness, World Diabetes Day, National Day Celebration and other community engagement events supporting “Daem”, a national program to enhance the quality of cultural activities and entertainment.
3. We add “live/work” to give purpose to malls. Al-Rashid malls are combining shopping with live/work components. For example, Al-Rashid megamall, a mixed-use development in Madinah, started as a hotel remodel that transformed into a sizable 115,795 m² plaza including restaurants, shopping, and offices.
4. We do not count on retail or anchors alone to drive traffic. Our malls feature a space that offers hands-on activities for children as well as dining and leisure. Balancing the design of the malls with dedicated spaces other than retail has become an important and successful component of Al-Rashid malls.
5. We close the dreaded Digital Divide. Digitization is providing more ways for shopping centers to connect meaningfully with tech-savvy customers. Our property manager continues to revamp malls with a digital navigation and media program. Technology is reshaping the way we shop, share information, experience a place, and even the way we bestow status. Robust, free Wi-Fi is “a bare minimum” for all our malls that are becoming relevant to tech-savvy shoppers. Charging stations for mobile devices and interactive kiosks are also commonplace in our centers.

Bonyan REIT malls continue to assess shopping patterns for clues about how to reshape our malls to get more customers into our buildings. We will be looking to corral more unconventional tenants like health clubs, walk-in clinics and even car dealerships.

Overview of Saudi Fransi Capital

Our history begins in 1985, when Banque Saudi Fransi offered securities brokerage in Saudi equities. One year later, we launched our first asset management fund. From that time on, we have expanded our offerings and capitalized on evolving financial services trends. By 2008, the bank had three establishments to undertake securities brokerage, asset management and investment banking advisory businesses. In 2011, the entities merged into a wholly owned subsidiary to form what is now known as Saudi Fransi Capital.

Today, we stand as a leading, full-service Saudi-based financial services provider offering investment banking, asset management, debt and equity research, institutional sales and trading, and local and international securities brokerage. We are headquartered in Riyadh and have locations around the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Asset Management

We are one of the leading providers of managed investment solutions for individuals, corporations and institutions. The extensive range of products and services that are offered reflects our drive to satisfy each client’s unique needs. Today, our range of products covers equity, fixed income, money markets, and alternative investments such as real estate, hedge funds, structured products, and private equity. Our products cover all major asset classes. It includes all our public and private funds, and, our closed-end private placements.

Investment Banking

We are actively involved in raising capital through the equity and debt capital markets and providing strategic and mergers and acquisitions advisory in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the region. Our services include advising and arranging sukuk and bonds, initial public offerings, rights issue, private placements, mergers and acquisitions, and capital and debt restructuring. We also provide advisory services for companies abroad that wish to cross list on the Saudi stock exchange.

Securities Brokerage

Our brokerage services are comprised of local, regional and global equity markets, swaps on equity, exchange-traded funds, options, fixed income and margin lending facilities both conventional and Sharia compliant. We provide different interfaces for our trading platform whether the client requires in-person service, over the telephone, or through a web or smart device application.

Investment Services

We attend to the needs of financial institutions by constantly developing new and innovative services in sales trading, custody and sukuk agency services. In addition, we facilitate access to the Saudi equity market for qualified foreign investors (QFI) and provide them numerous services. Our clients include banks, mutual funds, pension funds, hedge funds, insurance companies, brokers and other financial institutions around the world.

Equities Research

Through our exclusive focus on Saudi equities, our research provides fundamentally driven investment ideas to a diverse range of users with coverage representing the overall market capitalization across major sectors. Research forms an integral part of our equity sales effort by highlighting key investment themes and uncovering tradable ideas. In addition, we issue strategy reports to assist sophisticated investors in navigating volatile markets.