FAB Takes Full Ownership Of Bahrain Fund Administrator Yasira Arabian Post

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Arabian Post Staff -Dubai

First Abu Dhabi Bank has acquired 100 per cent of Bahrain-based Yasira Financial Services, extending its fund administration and trust services business to serve investment managers across public and private markets.

The Abu Dhabi lender announced the acquisition on Monday, saying Yasira would be rebranded and incorporated into its Securities Services division. Financial terms were not disclosed, and the bank did not specify a timetable for completing the integration.

The transaction brings Yasira's specialist administration platform alongside FAB's existing custody, cash management and foreign exchange operations. The bank expects the combination to give asset managers and institutional investors access to a wider range of services through a single provider.

Yasira Financial Services B. S. C. (C) administers investment structures covering listed assets, private equity, venture capital and property. Its operations support funds organised through different legal entities and jurisdictions, an important consideration for managers investing across national borders.

For private market investments, the company handles administrative processes beginning with investor commitments and capital calls, followed by allocations, financial reporting and eventual distributions. Those functions differ from custody, which principally concerns the safekeeping and servicing of financial assets.

FAB already provides custody services for public market investments. Incorporating Yasira is intended to extend its coverage of private investment structures, where funds can have complex ownership arrangements, extended investment periods and obligations to investors that continue throughout a fund's life.

Pantelis (Linos) D. Lekkas, FAB's group head of investment banking and markets, said growth in the regional funds industry was increasing demand for integrated servicing arrangements. He identified maintaining continuity for Yasira's existing customers as an immediate priority.

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“Our priority will be to ensure continuity for Yasira's clients while investing in the platform, talent and capabilities needed to support their growth,” Lekkas said in the bank's announcement.

The bank also intends to invest in the acquired company's staff and operating capabilities. It has not provided a budget for those investments or detailed how Yasira's existing customer relationships, staffing arrangements and service contracts will be managed during integration.

The acquisition will form part of FAB's MENASSA Securities Services offering, which combines custody and related banking functions for institutional clients. The addition of fund administration creates opportunities to provide services at different stages of an investment, rather than limiting the relationship to assets held in custody.

For fund managers, administrative work includes tracking investor subscriptions, processing requests for committed capital, maintaining financial records and arranging distributions. These activities can involve multiple currencies, investment vehicles and reporting requirements, particularly where a fund invests in several markets.

Bringing those services together with custody and payments may reduce the number of separate providers a manager needs to coordinate. Whether clients achieve operational savings will depend on pricing, systems integration and the services they choose to use; FAB has not published estimates of expected savings.

The purchase also gives FAB an established specialist business rather than requiring it to develop every private fund administration capability internally. Yasira describes itself as a provider of administrative solutions for private capital structures in the Middle East, with an emphasis on supporting complex investment arrangements.

The acquired company previously operated under the Crestbridge Bahrain name. At the time of its rebranding in 2023, Yasira said it administered more than $7 billion in funds and structures. That historical figure should not be treated as its current assets under administration, which FAB did not disclose alongside the acquisition.

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The announcement did not identify the seller or provide a breakdown of the consideration, leaving the financial impact of the purchase unclear. It also contained no revenue or profit figures for Yasira. Without those details, the scale of the acquired operation relative to FAB's banking business cannot be assessed from the transaction announcement alone. The bank presented the purchase primarily as an expansion of services rather than a quantified earnings contribution.

Neither the number of Yasira employees joining the bank nor the size of its current client base was specified. FAB also did not announce changes to the company's Bahrain operations or identify any immediate alterations to the services offered to existing customers.

The bank's announcement covered the purchase of the entire issued ownership interest in Yasira, rather than a minority investment or a partnership agreement. Its plans call for the acquired operation to be renamed as it joins the wider Securities Services business.

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