Malaysia's COPE launches COVID-19 support program

The Bridge Over Troubled Water (BOW) program has been drawn from pension fund and corporate LP commitments in existing COPE funds.

It will deploy in a range of MYR20-40 million per deal via equity or quasi-equity transactions. Established local companies are encouraged to apply for investment, especially if they have a global reach. Start-ups and non-shariah models will not be considered. 

COPE, which describes itself as one of a few reputable shariah-compliant PE managers in the region, emphasized that BOW would be implemented with a focus on the principles of Islamic finance and that the program did not indicate an effort to take advantage of the COVID-19 situation by structuring one-sided deals.

"As the world struggles to come to terms with COVID-19, we launch the BOW program with the sincere intention of helping entrepreneurs go through tough times," Azam Azman, a managing director at COPE, told AVCJ. "The spirit of musyarakah [partnership] means that our investment terms have to be fair, especially when the chips are down. The trust and goodwill engendered from treating people right will allow the firm, and in turn our LPs, to thrive in the years to come."

Founded in 2005 by asset manager Opus Capital and CMS Capital, the PE arm of Malaysian conglomerate Cahya Mata Sarawak, COPE focuses on domestic middle-market companies that generate most of their revenues offshore in foreign currencies. Its fourth fund closed at MYR300 million in 2018, far exceeding Fund III, which raised MYR80 million in 2013. Assets under management currently exceed MYR500 million.  

COPE has recently navigated macro tumult in its home market by sourcing deals at reduced valuations when the Malaysian government’s 1MDB scandal damaged confidence in the business sector. The firm claimed to have achieved exits with an average return of 3.8x during this period, including 8.9x from energy industry services provider Serba Dinamik. COPE invested in the company in 2013 and subsequently took it public. 

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Fundraising
• Credit/Special Situations
• Malaysia
• COPE Private Equity
• coronavirus
• covid-19