Welcome to

London

DUBAI

Tejara Capital is an international investment bank in London with an affiliated firm in UAE. It bridges Sharia compliant and traditional financial markets and is a gateway to a multitude of attractive investment opportunities, sourced from within the developed world by capitalising on our unique position, expertise and networks.

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Meet Our Team

Duncan Smith

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Duncan, the Chairman of Tejara Capital was, until mid-2020, the CEO of the firm. He also held the position of a Senior Executive Officer of Tejara Capital International Limited in Dubai and was a founding member of Tejara Capital in 2008. He brings considerable experience to the Tejara Capital management team, having spent much of his career establishing and managing Islamic banking, investment and asset management businesses with leading institutions in the field.

After leaving Barclays in 1985, he started Saudi International Bank’s trade and commodity investment activities where he established the first Sharia-compliant trade fund. Since then, Duncan has been responsible for launching and running investment portfolios and funds across a range of institutions. This has included, facilitating the investment of several billions of dollars by leading  Islamic and conventional Banks in the Gulf, family offices and corporates in currencies, commodities,  equipment leasing, equity and debt for real estate and REITs in the UK and US. In the 1990s Duncan managed the introduction of Islamic home finance programmes in UK and USA and between 2004 and 2008, as Senior Vice President at Arab Banking Corporation, Bahrain, he oversaw the design and  execution of the early cutting-edge corporate Sukuk, project financing syndication and hedging  products.

He holds an M.A. degree from the University of Cambridge.

Amr Abou El Seoud

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Amr is a founding member of Tejara Capital Limited and held the position of CEO from 2011 to 2015. He was re-appointed as CEO in mid-2020. Prior to his executive role at Tejara Capital, he spent the early part of his career at Coopers Lybrand and Ernst & Young before joining the Investment Dar Company in Kuwait. Over a 15 year period in that group, Amr progressed from junior analyst to CIO and supervised the overall management including all capital market deals, landmark projects, and growth strategies for the firm. At Tejara Capital, his aim is to develop the firm as a prominent investment bank in the UK, that provides both Sharia-compliant and traditional financial services. Since 2015, Amr has also been serving as the Senior Executive Officer of Tejara Capital International  Limited in Dubai.

Some of Amr’s key achievements include overseeing one of the most innovative global Islamic  issuances of a Sukuk. In the real estate/hospitality area, he identified and played a major role in the acquisition of Grosvenor House Apartments, a prestigious building on Park Lane, London which  opened to the public in February 2012 as luxury hotel apartments. In the manufacturing/luxury goods sector, Amr identified, sourced, and led a consortium in the acquisition and takeover of Aston Martin Lagonda from Ford in 2007 and played a key role in the management of that company. In 2018 he managed the team that advised key shareholders on the successful IPO of Aston Martin. He  has also been advising group companies on financial restructuring and raising new funds.

Amr holds a BA in Commerce and Accounting from Cairo University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Mansur Mannan

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Mansur is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and holds a BA (Hons) from Lancaster University. His professional career has spanned over 40 years in both public accounting firms and international banking.

He started his career with Deloitte in London where after qualifying, he moved to Bahrain to work with an associate firm. As an audit principal, he was responsible for professional services to all the major clients of the firm, in particular the finance sector. He was, however, keen to play a role in the fast-growing Islamic banking industry and joined, as head of audit and compliance, Ithmaar Bank in Bahrain, a member of DMI group and one of the pioneers in Islamic banking market. As a  member of the senior management team, he played an active role in the development of the  regulatory framework for Islamic financial institutions in Bahrain.

In 2004, Mansur returned to the UK to assist in establishing the first Islamic bank in the country, the Islamic Bank of Britain, now Al Rayan Bank. Upon successful launch of that bank, he moved to Credit  Suisse within the emerging market structuring team. There he was responsible for structuring Islamic  products and finance transactions. His major Islamic transactions include the landmark $2.5 billion convertible Sukuk for Al Dar, a leading real estate developer in UAE. In late 2008, he established his  own Sharia consultancy practice and in 2011 was appointed as a director of Tejara Capital.

Mansur had been involved with HM Treasury in the tax and regulatory changes that have taken place to promote Islamic finance in the UK. He is also a member of the technical team for Islamic  Finance Qualification of the Securities and Investment Institute in the UK.