London, July 15, 2026 – Neuberger, a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager, today announced the launch of the Neuberger MENA Equity Fund, a daily liquid UCITS fund providing institutional and professional investors with high-conviction, active exposure to Middle East and North Africa equities.
The Fund is managed by the Dubai-based MENA Equities team, collectively bringing decades of deep regional expertise. Walid Mourad, Head of MENA Equities, who has more than 25 years’ experience, will be supporting in an advisory capacity.
The strategy seeks long-term capital appreciation through a benchmark-agnostic, bottom-up fundamental process, investing in a concentrated portfolio of 25 to 40 high-quality MENA companies.
Grounded in a ‘Quality at a Reasonable Price’ (QARP) philosophy, the team applies a rigorous four-stage investment process, distilling a universe of about 1,240 stocks to a high-conviction portfolio, underpinned by continuous portfolio monitoring and disciplined risk management.
The launch reflects Neuberger's conviction that the MENA region is undergoing a profound and durable economic transformation. Governments across the Gulf Cooperation Council and wider MENA are actively diversifying their economies away from hydrocarbons and channelling oil revenues into key strategic sectors, including tourism, technology, healthcare, and financial services. This structural shift is complemented by robust economic expansion, low debt-to-GDP ratios, rising sovereign wealth, and one of the world's youngest, best-educated and fastest-growing populations.
Matt Malloy, Head of EMEA and Head of Global Institutional Client Group at Neuberger, comments: "The launch of the Neuberger MENA Equity Fund is a natural expression of our deepening commitment to this region and its investors. We have made significant investments in our local capabilities, assembling an experienced on-the-ground investment team and strengthening our client coverage across the GCC. We are committed to being a trusted long-term partner as these markets continue to evolve.
“This fund brings together the best of our global platform and our local expertise to offer clients a genuinely differentiated means of participating in one of the world's most dynamic growth stories. "
Walid Mourad, Head of MENA Equities at Neuberger, adds: "The MENA region sits at an inflection point. Transformational reform programmes, expanding capital markets, and a deepening IPO pipeline are creating investment opportunities that simply did not exist a decade ago. Our on-the-ground investment team has spent years building relationships regionally and developing a detailed understanding of local businesses, corporate culture, and market dynamics. Backed by Neuberger's best-in-class global platform, our team is well-positioned to identify high-quality companies trading at attractive valuations and deliver strong risk-adjusted returns for clients over a full market cycle.”
Investing in the fund is subject to risk, including but not limited to the following:
Market Risk: The risk of a change in the value of a position as a result of underlying market factors, including among other things, the overall performance of companies and the market perception of the global economy.
Liquidity Risk: The risk that the Fund may be unable to sell an investment readily at its fair market value. In extreme market conditions this can affect the Fund’s ability to meet redemption requests upon demand.
Credit Risk: The risk that bond issuers may fail to meet their interest repayments, or repay debt, resulting in temporary or permanent losses to the Fund.
Interest Rate Risk: The risk of interest rate movements affecting the value of fixed-rate bonds.
Concentration Risk: The Fund’s investments may be concentrated in a small number of investments or in bonds issued by a small number of issuers and its performance may therefore be more variable than the performance of a more diversified fund.
Counterparty Risk: The risk that a counterparty will not fulfil its payment obligation for a trade, contract or other transaction, on the due date.
Operational Risk: The risk of direct or indirect loss resulting from inadequate or failed processes, people and systems including those relating to the safekeeping of assets or from external events.
Currency Risk: Investors who subscribe in a currency other than the base currency of the Fund are exposed to currency risk. Fluctuations in exchange rates may affect the return on investment. If the currency of your investment is different from your local currency, then you should be aware that due to exchange rate fluctuations the performance shown may increase or decrease if converted into your local currency.
Derivatives Risk: The Fund is permitted to use certain types of financial derivative instruments (including certain complex instruments). This may increase the Fund’s leverage significantly which may cause large variations in the value of your share. (Investors should note that the Fund may achieve its investment objective by investing principally in Financial Derivative Instruments (FDI)). Certain investment risks apply in relation to the use of FDI. The use of leverage can amplify both gains and losses, which may result in a significant or a total loss of the Fund’s value in adverse market conditions.
Emerging Markets Risk: Emerging markets are likely to bear higher risk due to a possible lack of adequate financial, legal, social, political and economic structures, protection and stability as well as uncertain tax positions which may lead to lower liquidity.
For full information on the risks please refer to the fund prospectus and offering documents, including the KID or KIID, as applicable.
About Neuberger
Neuberger is an employee-owned, private, independent investment manager founded in 1939 with approximately 3,000 employees across 26 countries. The firm manages $613 billion of equities, fixed income, private markets, real estate and hedge fund portfolios for global institutions, advisors and individuals. Neuberger's investment philosophy is founded on active management, fundamental research and engaged ownership. The firm is proud to be recognized for its commitment to its two constituents, clients and employees. Again this past year, we were named Best Asset Manager for Institutional Investors in the US (Crisil Coalition Greenwich) and the #1 Best Place to Work in Money Management (Pensions & Investments, firms with more than 1,000 employees). Neuberger has no corporate parent or unaffiliated external shareholders. Visit www.nb.com for more information, including www.nb.com/disclosure-global-communications for information on awards. Data as of June 30, 2026.
Media Contacts:
EMEA: Fiona Kehily: fiona.kehily@nb.com
Amie McCart: amie.mccart@nb.com