Posted on 04 December 2009 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Livemint.com: As news began to roll out this week that Dubai World, the government of Dubai’s investment arm, was looking to delay payment on nearly $60 billion in debt, one of the topics that emerged into focus was Islamic finance.
The bonds that Dubai World issued were interest-free bonds, in compliance with Sharia law. Some analysts now say that this places Dubai World and its bondholders in a partnership, which opens up a whole new set of legal complications…………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 04 December 2009 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Birminghampost.net: Backers of the Birmingham-based Islamic Bank of Britain have insisted Islamic finance is still the way forward for investors, even after the sector was rocked by the massive failure in Dubai.
The Edgbaston bank officially celebrated its fifth birthday at the start of the Eid festival – the same day Dubai shocked the financial world when it announced its government-controlled investment vehicle would need a six-month moratorium on debts worth more than £35 billion…………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 04 December 2009 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Reuters: Dubai’s assets may be virtually untouchable, so any holders of bonds issued by flagship property firm Nakheel that take legal action to recover potential losses could be wasting their time, lawyers said on Thursday.
Government-owned conglomerate Dubai World wants time to restructure $26 billion of debt it and its main property units, Nakheel and Limitless World, owe and has asked creditors for a standstill on bond repayments until May 2010…………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 04 December 2009 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Voanews.com: The government owns Dubai World and will take control of its restructuring. But Dubai’s finance chief said the government does not guarantee its debt.
Dubai World owes creditors a total of sixty billion dollars. The company is not an investment vehicle for the government like a sovereign wealth fund…………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 04 December 2009 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Reuters: Rating agencies lowered several more Dubai-related entities to junk on Wednesday, over concerns the government will not back Dubai World and its debt obligations.
Fitch Ratings on Wednesday lowered its long-term issuer default rating and senior unsecured rating for Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group to junk, due to concern about government support for its debt…………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 04 December 2009 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Law.com: The Am Law Daily wrote on Tuesday about the mass of law firms that rushed into Dubai over the past two years to get in on the real estate and financing boom sweeping the Gulf region, but we wanted to know a bit more about the climate there this week, now that Dubai World, the massive sovereign wealth conglomerate, has announced plans to restructure about half its $60 billion in outstanding debt.
So we called Jawad Ali, a King & Spalding partner based in Dubai and the deputy head of the firm’s Middle East & Islamic Finance practice group…………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 04 December 2009 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Telegraph: The bondholders are waiting to hear about Dubai World’s plans to restructure $26bn (£15.7bn) of debt, including $6bn in its Nakheel property subsidiary.
Nakheel, which owns some of Dubai’s most ambitious projects, including the Palm Islands, issued over half of its debt in the form of a $3.5bn sukuk, or Islamic bond. It was the sukuk’s December 14 due date that prompted last week’s standstill announcement…………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 04 December 2009 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Globalarabnetwork.com: Fitch Ratings has today affirmed the long-term Issuer Default Ratings and placed the Individual ratings of four Dubai-based banks on Rating Watch Negative (RWN) in light of the continuing uncertainty in the Dubai economy following Dubai World’s (DW) request on 25 November 2009 to postpone debt repayments.
The banks affected are Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD), Emirates NBD (ENBD), Mashreqbank (MB), each with an Individual rating of ‘C’, and HSBC Bank Middle East (HBME), with an Individual rating of ‘B’ and the actions reflect Fitch’s belief that these banks have significant exposures to DW and other Dubai government-related entities (GREs)…………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 04 December 2009 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Gulf-daily-news.com: Islamic financial institutions still lag far behind in marketing, with companies struggling to compete with their conventional counterparts in product development.
That is one of the conclusions of a survey by MTI Consulting which will be launched at the 16th World Islamic Banking Conference which opens in Bahrain on Sunday…………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 04 December 2009 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Twocircles.net: The central government is reportedly considering the scopes of Islamic banking in the country in order to invite big investments in the time of economic crisis.
Investments including those from Arab countries could be used for infrastructural development and other purposes if the central government begins Islamic banking…………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 04 December 2009 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Thestar.com.my: Bahrain-based Ithmaar Bank is set to invest in Malaysia’s infrastructure, agriculture and hospitality sectors to pave the way for its regional expansion.
The investment bank, which has a stake in a Malaysian takaful company via an associate, will use funds from its clients in the Middle East and elsewhere to invest in these core sectors…………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 04 December 2009 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Maltabusinessweekly.com.mt: Islamic Finance is based on Sharia law which to be fair are quite common to various religions. These include no investment in prostitution, immoral activities or companies which deal with the production of pork as obviously Muslims cannot eat pork. Money is not considered as a commodity in this system and speculation or charging of interest is not allowed.
However even the Catholic religion speaks about the imposition of interest and this has now become accepted within reasonable limits…………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 04 December 2009 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Bernama: Sukuk (Islamic bonds) is fast growing in importance as a financial instrument and expected to remain upbeat or even overtake conventional issuance in 2010, a conference was told Thursday.
“The sukuk may exceed the conventional issuance next year as it continues to grow in popularity,” RAM Rating Services Bhd’s deputy chief executive officer, Chong Kwee Siong said…………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 04 December 2009 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Gulf-daily-news.com: Bahrain-based takaful provider t’azur Company has signed a distribution agreement with National Finance House (NFH) to provide t’azur general and family takaful products to NFH clients.
Products will include motor, home compact, its new accident and health plans, as well as the charitable savings plan Sadaqah…………………………….Full Article: Source
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