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Dubai is opening up its inaugural hedge fund to investors after an index-beating debut. The Middle East emirate's first fund of funds, which was launched at the beginning of 2009, beat comparable indexes by posting a 41% return last year. The fund, up slightly more than 1% through March 28, is still outperforming benchmarks this year.

Dubai World which is in talks to restructure some $22 billion debt, is unlikely to pay off developer Nakheel's $980 million Islamic bond, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday, and all options are open.

Private equity will be a key growth engine for the Islamic finance industry, but fund managers need to better understand Sharia concepts before a market can develop, a top banker told Reuters on Wednesday. Like most parts of the world, the private equity market in the Middle East came to a standstill in 2009 as liquidity conditions and deal opportunities dried up.

Standard Chartered Bank Saadiq expects to launch an Islamic commodity derivative in the first quarter, the bank's chief executive told Reuters on Tuesday.

Highlighting the sound underlying investment strategy of its fund managers and innovative product development strategy, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority (DMCCA) announced today that its Shariah-compliant Dubai Shariah Asset Management (DSAM) Kauthar Commodity Funds recorded industry leading gains in the 12 months ending December 31, 2009. The DSAM Kauthar Commodity Fund (DKCF), an equally-weighted fund-of-funds comprised of four single-strategy, commodity-focused funds that invest exclusively in Shariah-compliant long/short equity hedge funds on the Al Safi Trust platform, was up 41 per cent at the end of last year. During the same period, DKCF managers returned roughly double the average return of their equity and commodity benchmarks. The fund-of-funds total assets under management stood at US$250.1 million as of December 31, 2009.

While the medium-term prospects for the global sukuk market remain strong, the prospects are weaker for Dubai-based issuers and potentially other countries in the Gulf. That’s the assessment of ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P), which also said that Malaysia and South East Asia were likely to lead the global sukuk market in issuance of the next couple of years.

Dubai Emirates NBD announced yesterday that the company has decided to discontinue use of Standard & Poor's (S&P) Investors Service for rating of its banking subsidiaries, Emirates Bank International (EBI) and National Bank of Dubai (NBD).

Dubai Bank confirmed today that its current Chief Executive Officer, Salaam Al Shaksy, will be leaving the Dubai-based Shari'a-compliant financial institution to assume the role of Chief Executive Officer at National Bank of Oman.

Noor Investment Group's Noor Islamic Bank and Noor Takaful announced the creation of a new social media online forum shapeyourcountry.com to connect people living in the UAE across nationalities, age and econ-omic status, as well as Emiratis residing abroad.

"Takafulhous" subsidiary of Mawarid Finance, the leading Islamic insurance company in Dubai, announced appointment of the new CEO Mr. Ayman Yousif Al Ajmi.

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) will issue $1.5 billion (Dh5.5bn) worth of bonds in April to fund its ongoing expansion plans. When sold, Dewa would have raised nearly Dh10bn from international markets over the period of 12 months. Dewa is also looking at nearly doubling the size of its Export Credit Agency facility in the next few months

Kuwait's Investment Dar, the Islamic firm that co-owns British luxury carmaker Aston Martin, has received approval from almost 80% of creditors for a five-year plan to restructure about one billion dinars ($3.5 billion) of debt, two persons familiar with the plan told Zawya Dow Jones.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the largest Islamic bank in the UAE, has launched a comprehensive accidental death and disability insurance plan offered at a very affordable annual premium, a statement said.

Dubai World faces another test when it meets creditors next week to begin discussions on its other debts, totalling US$22 billion (Dh80.8billion).

Dubai Bank announced today the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Community Development Authority (CDA). The MoU marks a significant step forward in the bank's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, and is in line with its commitment to support educational causes through its CSR activities.

Dubai-based mortgage lender Amlak Finance will make its semi-annual coupon payment for its 2010 Sukuk on January 18.

This is to advise that a periodic distribution is due on 19th of January 2010. The total funds due will amount to USD 10,312,500.00 for Periodic Distribution to Certificate Holders.

Dubai World is expected to soon make a formal standstill request to creditors for $22billion in debt while it devises a restructuring plan. Dubai sent shockwaves through global markets on November 25 when it said it would request a standstill on billions of dollars in debt linked to Dubai World and its property units Limitless World and Nakheel, developer of palm-shaped islands. Following are some answers to frequently asked questions about the upcoming standstill agreement:

The comments from Barclays came in a report which recommended that investors sell their Nakheel Sukuk. How much money banks and investors are likely to obtain from Nakheel is under some dispute since the Dubai World conglomerate which Nakheel is a part of announced last December that it would be seeking to restructure its debt.

Nakheel bondholders will recover less than half of their investments as the property developer's parent company renegotiates US$22 billion (Dh80.80billion) of debt, Barclays Capital analysts estimate.