A new $500 million firm has been set up in Bahrain by GBCorp, an Islamic investment bank, to promote investments in hydrocarbons and energy infrastructure.

GBCorp has teamed up with Taylor-DeJongh (TDJ), one of the world’s leading project finance advisors, to establish the energy subsidiary, Global Energy Financial Services Company (Gefsco).
Announcing the company’s launch at a press conference at the Gulf Hotel Convention Centre, Manama, Mark Hanson, CEO of GBCorp, said the strategic alliance with TDJ was the first step in building a comprehensive portfolio of sharia-compliant services specific to the energy industry.
“The partnership brings together many decades of industry expertise to identify, analyse, assess, execute and package GBCorp’s projects in the energy sector, enabling us to broaden our product offering in a well-balanced manner,” Hanson noted.  
He said GBCorp was on the threshold of a new era of Islamic investment banking, focusing on building strategic investment bridges and linking the region to global markets.
“This calls for identifying key areas and leveraging global investment opportunities in core sectors, and energy happens to be one of the most lucrative areas,” he pointed out.
With continued economic growth in China, India, the GCC, and other emerging markets, energy demand will continue to rise, he added.
According to him, the strong price environment has increased the attractiveness of some new projects, companies and technologies and has the potential to provide exceptional returns to investments in the right energy opportunities.
Terry Newendorp, chairman and CEO of TDJ, said GBCorp would leverage TDJ’s energy expertise to advise on Gefsco’s advisory services across the entire energy value chain.
“TDJ’s over 25 years’ track record in successfully structuring and closing transactions all over the world will be invaluable in creating and capturing value at this time in the energy cycle.”
“With oil prices at record-breaking levels, and prices in the natural gas markets skyrocketing, the energy sector looks lucrative. These trends are expected to continue, with some analysts predicting that oil prices could reach $200 per barrel within the next two years,” Newendorp said.
Timothy Holder, CEO of Gefsco, said the company would offer a full range of industry-related advisory services to GBCorp’s projects, identifying and capitalising on investment opportunities in the oil and gas and power sectors.
”We will provide advisory services to GBCorp for investment valuation; transaction structuring; negotiation and execution; post-investment management; exit strategy and exit execution,” said Holder.
The target sectors range from upstream exploration and production to natural gas processing, refining, petrochemicals, oilfield services, power generation and related infrastructure.
Investments will be conducted through special-purpose vehicles conforming to Shari’a rules and principles, he added.
He said Gefsco was already in talks with a few big companies and some deals were in the pipeline. “We are expecting to close at least three deals in the coming months which may be worth around $100 to 200 million.”
He said the company was also eyeing the lucrative energy markets in Asia, North America and Europe. “India is another big market that we will tap into in the coming months,” he added.