KARACHI, June 9: TMT Ventures, Pakistan's pioneering venture capital and private equity company, Thursday signed an agreement to jointly launch and manage a 100-million dollar private equity fund with SEAF, a Washington D.C. based global investment management firm.

The new fund will provide growth capital, operational support and global market access to select Pakistan companies with high growth potential.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Sohaib Umer, CEO of TMT Ventures, said the joint venture signified the interest of foreign investors in Pakistan as an emerging market with tremendous latent growth.

“For the last five years we have invested in Pakistan's budding entrepreneurs through our flagship Incubation Fund. Now it is time to merge our learning and SEAF's global experience to unlock value in promising local ventures, with strong management teams operating in traditional but high growth sectors.”

The ceremony was also attended by Hubertus Van der Vaart, President and CEO of SEAF. He said Pakistan was at the threshold of an economic growth curve that favoured the entry of focussed private equity funds.

“By combining TMT's extensive local experience with SEAF's global best practices in managing investments hands-on in over 20 countries, I believe we have formed a formidable partnership for the future success of the fund,” said Van der Vaart.

He said the keen interest of international financial institutions in the TMT/SEAF private equity fund was a clear indication that the investment community was taking notice of the economic potential of Pakistani companies and entrepreneurs.

Private equity in its purest form operates on Islamic Shariah principles of partnership with sharing of risk and reward. “It is our intention to make the fund Shariah compliant,” said Sohaib Umar.—APP