Bonds and sukuks are among the “most attractive” ways of funding more than $45bn projects planned in Qatar this year and $140bn projects planned in the upcoming years, Doha Bank Group CEO Dr R Seetharaman has said.
He said in 2012 Qatar issued sukuk worth $4bn and earlier, in 2011, Qatar came out with QR50bn bonds for local banks. “QNB recently came up with a $1bn bond issue for a tenure of seven years. In March 2013, Qatar’s Central Bank issued QR1bn of local currency sukuk and QR3bn of local currency conventional bonds.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Turkish Islamic bank Türkiye Finans issued a $500 million five-year Islamic bond, also known as a sukuk, in a bid to take its share of the soaring investor appetite for alternative financial instruments as well as Turkey’s ambitious plans to boost its Islamic finance offers.
The sale, which is bank’s first and Turkey’s second largest after the Treasury’s issuance of $1.5 billion worth of sukuks last September, attracted a massive order from 95 global investors at $1.9 billion, which is 3.8-fold the sale. The sale carried a 3.95 percent yield………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Batu Kawan Bhd has proposed to raise up to RM500mil from an Islamic medium-term notes Sukuk programme. It said on Monday the Securities Commission had approved the Sukuk programme which would have a tenure of 10 years.
“Proceeds from the Sukuk programme will be utilised by the company to finance its Shariah-compliant investments, general corporate purposes (including operational and capital expenditure requirements) and working capital needs,” it said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Kenanga Investment Bank (KIBB) and its Saudi partner Wasatah Capital have identified an opportunity for Saudi companies to create a presence in the Malaysian sukuk market following Al Bayan Group Holding Company’s 200-million Malaysian ringgit (MR) sukuk issuance.
The RM200-million sukuk issuance is the first tranche out of an inaugural RM1.0 billion Sukuk Wakalah Program. It is also the first Malaysian Ringgit Sukuk Program to be established and issued by a Saudi corporate issuer to date in Malaysia………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Dana Gas’ Islamic bonds rallied last week, sending the yield down eight times more than the Arabian Gulf average, after the UAE-based fuel producer agreed on debt-refinancing terms.
The yield on the 7.5 per cent notes, originally due in October 2012, tumbled 40 basis points in the five-day period to 8.05 per cent, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That compares with a five basis-point drop for companies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to 3.7 per cent, according to the HSBC/Nasdaq Dubai GCC Corporate US Dollar Sukuk Index. Dana Gas’ shares surged 7.7 per cent on Sunday, the most since December………………………………………..Full Article: Source

HE the QCB Governor, Sheikh Abdullah bin Saoud al-Thani, in his capacity as Chairman of the Board of Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) and Chairman of the Governing Board of International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM), will give a keynote address at the forthcoming London Sukuk Summit on the standards issued by the IFSB to facilitate the regulation and supervision of the Islamic Financial Services industry.
The event will be held at the Jumeirah Carlton Hotel, London on June 12 and 13. He will also address the role that sukuk can play in facilitating the liquidity management for institutions that offer Islamic financial services. In providing this perspective, Sheikh Abdullah will draw on his capacity as Governor of the Qatar Central Bank and Chairman of Qatar Financial Centre (QFC)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

RAM Rating Services Bhd has assigned final ratings to Al-’Aqar Capital Sdn Bhd’s proposed Issue 1 to be issued under its RM1bil Sukuk Ijarah programme. In a statement, RAM Ratings said it had assigned AAA rating with a stable outlook for the RM272mil Class A Sukuk Ijarah and AA2 with a stable outlook for the RM55mil Class B Sukuk Ijarah. The RM328mil Class C Sukuk Ijarah, however, was not rated, it said.
Al-’Aqar Cap is a wholly owned special-purpose vehicle of Al-’Aqar Healthcare REIT, which, in turn, is majority-held by KPJ Healthcare Bhd via a 49% indirect stake………………………………………..Full Article: Source

It has developed its own platform for its four investment options and has appointed Corporate Combined Superannuation (CCSL) as trustee. The Shariah-compliant funds - Australian equities, international equities, income fund and Australian infrastructure and property - were previously only available on the Association of Independently Owned Financial Planners Personal Choice Private e-wrap platform, after they were launched late last year.
The company is also in talks with industry super funds to white-label the product as an ultra-ethical investment option. ……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Kuwait-based Asiya Investments has launched an Islamic trade finance fund with $20 million in seed capital, aiming to cater to small Asian manufacturers. Asiya, whose largest shareholder is sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority, aims to fill a gap left by Western banks that are scaling back their trade finance business, making credit scarce for small and medium-sized firms.
“We engage those companies that are already banked but whose credit lines are limited - we are complementing their financing,” said Sulaiman Alireza, executive director of Asiya’s investment management arm in Hong Kong………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Asiya Investments (Asiya), described as the Asia specialist investment firm, has announced the launch of its Asia Islamic Trade Finance Fund, which will invest in select, Shariah-compliant financing of short-term physical trade flows in Asia and the Middle East. The fund aims to capture a set of opportunities that exist in today’s market.
Key among these is the expansion of both intra-Asia as well as cross-border trade flows between Asia and the Middle East. Annual intra-Asia trade is expected to quadruple from almost $ 5 trillion to $ 20 trillion by 2020. Similarly, trade between the GCC and Emerging Asia is growing at a rate of 25 percent per year………………………………………..Full Article: Source

As Europe remains mired in one of the biggest food fraud scandals in recent times, this side of the globe is seeing the world’s first private equity (PE) fund specialising in the halal industry being set up.
For Azka Capital Sdn Bhd executive director Darhim Dali Hashim, halal does not only reflect the practice of how foods are prepared but more importantly the integrity of ingredients used………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The initiative of Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum to set up a comprehensive platform of Islamic economy products and services is crucial to finding a host that takes under its wings an industry valued at $4 trillions, Kuwait’s Arab Planning Institute (API) chief said on Monday.
The initiative known as “Dubai: Capital of Islamic Economy” was announced in January 2013 by Sheikh Mohammad. It aims at further diversifying Dubai’s economy and boosting Islamic economy; which stands at 11 per cent of world economy………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Today, as Malaysians welcome their newly elected and returned Members of Parliament as well as state assemblymen, I would like to share with you about my hope for the future of Islamic finance in Malaysia. Islamic finance, as I have often said time and time again, has come a long way in Malaysia.
It dominates the primary and secondary debt capital market with 70%-80% market share. It also dominates the equity capital market with close to 90% of the listed stock on Bursa Malaysia being Syariah-compliant stocks………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Emirates Islamic Bank (EIB), on Sunday, reported a 101 per cent increase in first quarter net profit as compared to the previous year. The net profit for the period reached Dhs33.2 million, noting a sharp incline from the Dhs16.5 million in the first quarter in 2012. The total income for the three months, that ended March 31, 2013, rose up by 42 per cent to reach Dhs443 million.
The bank reported a 42 per cent increase in operating profit before an impairment of Dhs195 million in the first quarter………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Nigeria has issued new guidelines to oversee the operation of its takaful (Islamic insurance) industry, favoring a centralised format that is gaining favour across the Islamic finance world. Africa’s top oil producer and second biggest economy is trying to establish itself as the African hub for Islamic finance, having approved rules for issuing sukuk in March.
Nigeria, home to the largest Muslim population in sub-Saharan Africa, hopes the guidelines will boost insurance penetration. Its insurance sector had total assets of 621 billion naira ($3.9 billion) as of December 2011, according to official data………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Insurance major XL Group and Islamic specialist Cobalt underwriters will offer sharia-compliant insurance for companies buying commercial property, paving the way for Islamic investors to tap London’s subscription-based insurance market for the first time.
The new offering will allow multiple insurers to take part in Islamic insurance deals, adding scale to the fledgling sharia-compliant insurance industry in the UK………………………………………..Full Article: Source