JEDDAH: The MENA region offers great value to investors, even when compared to economic powerhouses India and China, according to internationally acclaimed investment guru, Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, a leading global asset/fund manager. Saudi Arabia has the largest capital market in the GCC with a market cap over $450 billion and is increasingly being recognized for improving its business practices. Mobius was addressing an audience of investors in Beirut on the occasion of the Annual Limited Partner (LP) general meeting for Amwal II, the second partnership of Riyadh-headquartered Amwal AlKhaleej. Mobius said MENA region remains bullish on valuations as the market is still in the process of a correction and is currently under-allocated from the perspective of global investors, especially in light of its economic weight. For instance, the MENA region collectively represents 13.1 percent of the global nominal GDP and 11.6 percent of the world's landmass while only representing 7 percent of the world global market capitalization. He stressed that consumers and commodities remain some of the most important investment themes for 2010-11. Mobius also noted that the overall macro-economic indicators for the MENA region remain strong, with dividend yields averaging at 4.5 percent in October 2010, compared to 2.1 percent in the emerging markets, including China and India. Ammar Alkhudairy, managing partner, Amwal AlKhaleej, said: "The last five years have witnessed major shifts in global and regional markets, but we believe that the industry is now poised to move from a capital preservation mode to a mode of value creation triggered by the current rebound in global markets."
