New York (HedgeCo.net) – A new hedge fund initiative has been established focusing on telecom infrastructure investments in the Middle East and Northern Africa (‘MENA’). The MENA Infrastructure Fund (‘MIF’) is an initiative of Sahara Development Fund (‘SDF’), a Dutch based investment management company led by Dr. Paul Gelderloos. The new hedge fund aims to raise $250 million.
“I am thrilled about this exciting opportunity.” Dr. Paul Gelderloos, the hedge fund’s founder, said, “After the liberalisation of the telecom market I have witnessed in the US in the eighties and in Europe in the nineties, I see strong similarities in the current developments in the Middle East and Northern Africa. ”
It is expected that the MENA telecom markets will reach maturity levels within the coming five years, driven by further market liberalisation and benign macro-economic conditions. The surge of social media will only contribute to an acceleration of the expected developments.
The new SDF hedge fund brings together telecom and investment expertise. Gelderloos himself was one of the first founders in Europe of an alternative telecom operator, Scarlet in the Netherlands. He started the company in 1992 as a provider of call-back services, by means of organic growth and turn-key acquisitions he managed to grow the company towards a network-backed, full-service telecom operator for both residential and business customers.
Together with his fellow directors, he has performed more than 50 acquisitions in the last twenty years. Scarlet recorded revenues of more than $150 million in 2008, when the company was sold to Belgacom (the Belgian incumbent telecom operator) for a total consideration of more than $250 million.
Alex Akesson
Editor for HedgeCo.net
alex@hedgeco.net
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