IslamicFinance.de

Public Mutual revealed that it is going to launch the sukuk fund that will invest at least 75% of its net asset value in a portfolio of Sukuk taking positions in both sovereign and corporate Sukuk with the balance entrusted in Islamic money market instruments.
The firm is also initiating a conventional Asian emerging growth equity fund, which will have a small-cap Asian emerging market focus and a conventional global bond fund.

Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company (SATORP) will oficially launch its public offering of sukuk certificates (the Sukuk) by Arabian Aramco Total Services Company (AATSC). SATORP will decide the total offering size.
As Joint Lead Managers and Joint Bookrunners were chosen Deutsche Securities Saudi Arabia, Samba Capital & Investment Management Company and Saudi Fransi Capital.

Nakheel has pushed the issuance of AED1bn ($272m) of Islamic bonds to its trade contractors after bank account details of some of its creditors were found to be defective.
The developer has inquired the 30 trade creditors to resubmit their account details to continue with the second AED1bn tranche.
Nakheel offered creditors repayment of 40 % cash and the remaining 60 % in the form of an Islamic bond, or sukuk, at a profit rate of 10 %.

Banks from Japan to Bahrain are aiming to open offices in Malaysia to take advantage of the growth in Islamic finance assets in the world’s biggest sukuk market.
Mizuho Financial Group Inc has applied for a licence to offer foreign-currency Syariah-compliant services in the country. An aproximatly equal licence was given to Bahrain’s Elaf Bank B.S.C. in June.

It seems that Pakistan is planning to take advantage of 36% annual growth in the nation’s Islamic banking assets by resuming sales of sukuk to lenders.

Indonesia calculates to sell dollar-denominated Islamic bonds by the end of December. This would be the second sale of the securities in two years. The country is looking to Persian Gulf investors to obtain the debt.
Rahmat Waluyanto, director general of the debt management office at the Ministry of Finance, stated that they are aming for Middle East investors to buy their global Islamic bonds.
Agus Martowardojo, Finance Minister, revealed that the government had planned to collect as much as $1 billion from global sukuk sales by the end of September.

Meezan Bank from Pakistan has accomplished the country's first short-term Sukuk deal.
The PKR1.5bn ($17.3m) Sukuk was launched by KAPCO (Kot Addu Power Company Ltd), Pakistan's largest power company. It means a six month Musharakah and a Shari'ah compliant alternative to conventional short-term paper.

The three largest ratings agencies are still in trouble from the financial crisis, where they may have given higher ratings to mortgage-backed securities than was justified.

Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical (Satrop) has chosen three banks to arrange for its Islamic bond, that will help to finance the construction of a large refinery complex at Jubail on the Persian Gulf coast, Saudi Arabia. The three banks are: Deutsche Securities Saudi Arabia, Samba Capital and Saudi Fransi Capital.
The company's proposal is to construct a refinery worth $10bn.

Meezan Bank had a huge influx of funds this year and Muhammad Asad, executive vice president and chief investment officer of Al Meezan Investment Management, stated that it is because of the Government of Pakistan's Sukuk program, which has enjoyed enormous local demand. He added that the sukuk enjoyed high levels of demand because it is tradable and offers competitive returns to the investors.
At this point Al Meezan is Pakistan's largest private sector asset management company.

The Islamic bank looks to to launch at least US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) of sukuk before the end of the year. The bank is hoping that this will help it to build a track record among international credit markets for future bond sales.
Details were not revealed, therefor it is not know where the sukuk might be listed or which will be the total size of the sukuk programme.

Nakheel launched the Dh3.8 billion (US$1.03bn) Islamic bond as a part of its financial restructuring. Through this the company is underscoring investors' continued doubts about the embattled property giant's finances.
Ahmad Alanani is a senior executive officer in the fixed-income department of Exotix in Dubai. He states that retail buyers were taking shares from contractors at about 84 cents on the dollar, sending yields skywards. He predicts prices of 70 to 80 cents on the dollar in the future.

Sakana Holistic Housing Solutions recently gained access into commodity murabaha financing facility with Khaleeji Commercial Bank for BHD 4 Mil (equivalent USD 10.6 Mil) over 4 years.
The attendents at the signing ceremony were: Mr. Reyadh Yousif Sater - Chairman, Sakana, Mr. R Lakshmanan - CEO, Sakana, Mr. EBRahim Hussain EBRahim - CEO and Board Member, KHCB, Mr. Jassim Awadh - AGM Corporate & Wholesale Banking, KHCB, Mr. Khalid Turki - Executive Senior Manager - Corporate & Wholesale Banking, KHCB and Mr. Khalid Bucheery - Manager Finance, Sakana.

Egypt has renewed interest in the growing sector of Islamic banking and finance in an effort to rebuild the economy of the country using internal methods of financing.
Part of the country's pursuit will be to launch a sovereign Sukuk, or bond, program within months. It would be Egypt's first sovereign Sukuk, ahead of country states including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Jordan aditionally mature markets such as Great Britain and France.

Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo stated that Indonesia has nominated three arrangers for the planned global sukuk, likely to be issued in the third quarter.
Unfortunetly, the names of these arrangers weren't given.

Standard & Poor's kept Al-Arkans Long-Term Corporate Rating "BB-",retaining a Stable Outlook.
The reaffirmation was given, taking in consideration that DAAR's financial performance during the second quarter improved in comparison to the first quarter in terms of margins, collection of trade receivables and operating cash flow generation.
Moreover, DAAR has managed its cash consumption during the second quarter. Account receivable balances were collected and decreased from their peak during the first quarter of 2011, by slowing down land acquisitions.

Three banks were picked by Saudi Aramco and France's Total to arrange an Islamic bond (sukuk) and to finance their joint venture in the kingdom.
Lead managers were appointed and joint bookrunners for the sukuk: Deutsche Securities Saudi Arabia, Samba Capital and Saudi Fransi Capital.

It appears that after the update of Rating Sukuk criteria by Fitch Ratings the changes are not significant and therefor it will have no impact on existing ratings. The report outlines Fitch's approach to rating Sukuk.
Fitch analyses the structure of the underlying transaction(s) to comprehend and analyze the contractual cash flows.
While the report focuses on Fitch's recent experience, Islamic finance is in continuing its evolution.

Indonesia is expected to to have a natural fit with Islamic banking, finance and insurance, especially because of the mobilization of domestic savings through Islamic banking.
But it seems that the latest statistics on the sector demonstrate that Indonesia has a long way to go in emulating the success of its neighbor, Malaysia.
For Indonesia, the global sukuk market in particular evolved into an alternative source of funding for infrastructure and other investments. The latest incursion of the Indonesian Ministry of Finance into the Islamic capital market is planned for August 2011 when the government is due to launch 1 trillion rupiah of debut Islamic treasury bills with a six-month tenor.

Dar Al-Arkan Real Estate Development Company paid on time, 16th of August 2011, USD 24.2 million due as semiannual payment for its Sukuk IV issuance maturing in 2015.