Arqaam Capital has announced the exit from its infrastructure fund's investment in Oman's Sembcorp Salalah Power and Water Company SAOG (SSPWC) through  a trade sale to the Diwan of Royal Court Pension Fund, Sultanate of Oman.

BDCC Investment Company (BDCC), a special purpose vehicle wholly owned by Bunyah GCC Infrastructure Fund currently managed by Arqaam, invested in SSPWC during the construction phase in late 2011. This investment was part of the infrastructure fund's strategy to create a balanced portfolio across brownfield and greenfield assets ensuring that the risk and return profiles are in line with the fund's investment policy.

Demand for power and water is expected to continue growing in the MENA region due to sustained economic growth, an expanding population and a high household consumption of electricity and water compared to the rest of the world.

Dennis Wijsmuller, Chief Operating Officer of Arqaam, said:

"With governments across the region increasingly encouraging an active role of the private sector in infrastructure investments, Arqaam is well positioned to continue playing a major role in this important asset class.  This milestone validates the infrastructure asset management team's ability to achieve returns for our investors throughout the full investment cycle having sourced the investment in 2011, exited partially via an IPO in 2013 and completed a full trade sale in 2015".

SSPWC has been in full commercial operation since May 2012 and is the largest and most energy-efficient power and water plant in the Dhofar Governorate in Oman with a net power capacity of a 489 MW and water capacity of 15 million imperial gallons per day. The facility currently supplies more than 70% of the power dispatch and 100% of the net installed desalinated water capacity of the Dhofar Governorate.

Lim Yeow Keong, Chief Executive Officer of Sembcorp Salalah Power & Water Company said:

"We thank BDCC, one of our founding shareholders, for their contribution to the success of Sembcorp Salalah and take this opportunity to welcome Diwan of Royal Court Pension on board.'

Suhail Hajee, head of the infrastructure asset management division at Arqaam, commenting on the exit:

"We are pleased to have played an instrumental role alongside our fellow founding shareholders and the management team of SSPWC in shaping the success story of the company. SSPWC has been a great investment for us and we believe it will continue to be so in the future".