Markab Capital - US$400 Million Real Estate Acquisition

LONDON, July 13, 2011 -

- Successful Conclusion of Middle East Real Estate London
Acquistion With a Market Capitalisation of Over
£250,000,000

The principals of Markab are extremely pleased to announce that
they have successfully assisted in the acquisition of Prime
Investments Group Limited (”Prime”) by Phoenician Corporation V
Limited (”PV”). The transaction represents a major purchase of
unleveraged real estate assets acquired by Prime at distressed
prices.  The new enlarged entity now trades on the PLUS Stock
Exchange in London under the name “Prime Investments
International Limited” (”PIIL“).  

Spencer Wilson, Managing Director of Markab and an experienced
real estate investor, was, prior to the acquisition, PV’s largest
individual shareholder and a company director.  

PIIL’s primary objective is to identify real estate and other
investments predominantley in the Middle East and North Africa. The
main asset of Prime as at the closing of the acquisition is a land
bank of 67 plots which have a gross floor area of 21,905,000 square
feet in a project known as the Eye of Ajman located at the junction
of Emirates Road and Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Street 104 in Ajman,
United Arab Emirates. Ernst & Young in Dubai have independent
valued the said real estate at approximately $400,000,000 resulting
in a market capitalization upon closing of £253,201,313.

PV acquired the entire issued share capital of Prime in
consideration for the issuance by it of a combination of shares and
warrants which are exercisable over a five year period. These
consideration shares are now fully tradable on the exchange.

PIIL’s investment strategy is to acquire a mixture of immediate
cash generating assets and capital appreciating assets that are,
where possible, Shari’ah compliant.

Commenting on the acquisition, Spencer Wilson remarked:

“There were many factors which made this acquisition a little
more complex than other transactions; such as the cross border
legal and financing issues and overcoming cultural differences. I
am delighted at the performance of Markab‘s team in
assisting with these and getting the deal closed.  The Markab
team consists of english and arabic speaking financiers, lawyers
and other professionals, and all of these skills were called upon
particularly in areas related to working capital and corporate
governance.

The acquisition greatly enhances the shareholder value of the
enlarged group and has highlighted the appetite for London-Middle
East transactions in one form or another.“

About Markab:

Markab Capital is the advisory and merchant banking arm of
several large Middle Eastern and European family holding companies
engaged in financial services. The families financial groups,
established in the 1970’s, operate in merchant banking, private
equity and credit risk management and employ over 1500
professionals worldwide.

For further information please contact the team at Markab
Capital at href="mailto:swilson@markabcapital.com">info@markabcapital.com

Spencer Wilson - (+44)7707-668700