IslamicFinance.de

GFH Capital is a private equity firm based in Dubai, UAE. According to its website, the company has been highly successful investments and fund management over the past ten years. It also points out that it has handled investments worth more than eight billion US dollars in 25 different countries. Its funds to some extent come from the Dubai Islamic Bank, the World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank. The Gulf Finance House is an investment bank Bahrain. It completely owns GFH Capital Limited. Just as GFH Capital, the Gulf Finance House has made numerous successful investments worth billions of American dollars. GFH Capital has made its bid for Leeds United on its own and will handle the deal independently of Gulf Finance House.

It is still discussed how to salvage the takeover of the Islamic Bank of Britain based in Birmingham. However, it is a fact that no offer for the business has been forthcoming. According to the IBB, Islamic bank Masraf Al Rayan appears to be a possible bidder following to collapse of takeover talks between the IBB and majority shareholder Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB). If MAR acquires IBB, QIIB will sell their 88.41% of the issued share capital of the Birmingham operation to MAR.

The latest takeover bid for the Birmingham based Islamic Bank of Britain by its majority shareholder, Qatar International Islamic Bank, has not had any success. QIIB's scheme was recently voted down at a shareholder meeting. Meanwhile, Marsaf Al Rayan has become a potential bidder for IBB. The ofer by QIIB from September 6 was worth £35.5 million.

Read more on: http://www.birminghampost.net/birmingham-business/birmingham-business-ne...

Together with a Malaysian Sovereign Wealth fund, London-based Gatehouse Bank has finished the £165 million acquisition of the offices of the law firm SJ Berwin. Gatehouse played the role of an investment and Sharia adviser for the deal. The investment of the Malaysian client is of major importance for its wider global investment strategy.

Read more on: http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=339370

King & Spalding, Norton Rose and Jones Day have advised on Shariah-compliant financing of £400m which is to be used for the redevelopment of King's Reach Tower on London's South Bank. Investor company Mohammed Al Subeaei & Sons Investment Company (MASIC) from Saudi Arabia provided a £145m mezzanine tranche. The company was advised by a London team from King & Spalding.

Read more on: http://www.legalweek.com/legal-week/news/2215332/norton-rose-and-jones-d...

In an announcement on Wednesday, Bank of London and The Middle East plc (BLME) informed about a significant senior secured transaction with Greenergy Biofuels Limited. BLME is the lead arranger and the main shareholders with equal stakes are BLME and a bank basedin Qatar. The facility is secured against the assets of a biodiesel plant located in Immingham, Humberside, UK.

More on: http://www.zawya.com/story/BLME_arranges_senior_secured_Murabaha_finance...

Qatar First Investment Bank (QFIB) is announced to acquire two properties in prime locations in Central London. These are the Leinster Inn Hotel at Leinster Square, and Westbourne House, Westbourne Grove. The acquisition is carried out in association with a consortium of investors from the GCC. The transactions aim to capitalise on the growing demand for real estate in Central London by converting both buildings into high-end luxury residential apartments.

Seera Investment Bank has negotiated a Sharia-compliant structured financing facility wich will serve for developing a new purpose built student housing project and commercial property in central London. The project should be completed next year. The property will provide 339 rooms for students as well as a commercial space of 37,000 square feet. The property will be constructed in the vicinity of Aldgate East Station in Central London which location is not far away from a number of higher educational institutions. The first phase of the construction has recently been finished.

An announcement of Gatehouse Bank plc states that the bank has a strong set of interim results for the first six months of 2012. Profit projections have been exceeded by almost 10% with a total of more than $3.2 million (GBP 2.1 million). This shows that the bank’s business and operating model is maturing out of its start-up phase. The bank is also close to meeting its 2012 financial plan, since the income for the same period is £6,121k in comparison with £1,719k for the comparative period - a 250% increase. Thus, substantial growth and wealth preservation on behalf of its investors is delivered.

Gatehouse Bank has bought the Debenhams department store in Leeds city centre for £33.4m ($52.6m). thus, the sharia-compliant investment bank continues property acquisition in this city, the BT building in Sovereign Street being the first one. The new acquisition was chosen for its strategic location for retail and real estate fundamentals.

The first home purchase plan approved by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for the mainstream UK market is the genie out of a modern day bottle. It shows that the religious principles underlying Islamic products are important in the ethical and social finance marketplace and that Islamic principles can stimulate and improve the finance products being expanded to meet these challenging times in the residential domestic market.
Natalie Elphicke, head of structured housing finance, partner, international law firm Stephenson Harwood, states that the following characteristics apply equally to an approved Islamic home finance plan as they do to a new conventional purchase plan designed for a housing association in the north east of England: risk sharing, not profiting unjustly or unfairly, not charging excessive charges.

For three days in April social entrepreneurs including designers, businesspersons, humanitarians and investors were gathered in Oxford, England at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship and its more discursive 'un-conference' the Oxford Jam.
An important part of the session was focused on securing investment to start and scale social enterprises.
Also, Tom Hume introduced IDEOs 3 principles to create large-scale innovation:
1) Build on existing user behavior.
2) Scale up by going where people already congregate.
3) Prototype early

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) and the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies convened a two-day closed door Roundtable on Islamic Finance in Oxfordshire, England, over the weekend.
A select group of key industry practitioners, senior academicians, Shariah scholars, standard setters and regulators from around the world discussed three topics under the theme "Islamic Finance and the Public Good".