Search This Blog

28 Aug 2007

Iraqi Hedge Fund Escapes Market Turmoil

Iraqi hedge fund `The Babylon Fund´ announced today that they successfully managed to steer away from the general global financial meltdown seen lately.

Babylon's winning streak continued during July (and further into August) with a rise of 3,8% in the Babylon Fund's NAV-price.

Of the hedge fund's direct Iraqi holdings, bond yields steered higher upon a combination of dried-up flow and risk aversion factors partly based upon the perceived weakened state of the government whose success might be seen as being indirectly linked to the bond payment stream.

On the other hand, in the ISX stock market in Baghdad, prices rose strongly, as did value and volumes traded, as participants positioned themselves ahead of foreigners' entrance into the ISX, which was allowed as of 1st of August.

According to a statement, Babylon's aim is to provide long-term capital growth from an investment portfolio consisting of Iraqi and Iraqi-dependant securities. The investment process is mainly top-down driven, with a mix of fundamental analysis and portfolio diversification characteristics, aiming to be regarded as an easy, safe and efficient Gateway towards investing into the region.

Babylon Fund is an open-ended mutual fund that primarily invests into large-cap Iraqi-dependant securities, mainly listed on the stock exchanges both in Iraq and in other countries.