IslamicFinance.de

Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is home to the first Equity Crowdfunding platform in the region, Eureeca. It is the first multi-regulated global Equity Crowdfunding platform and has over 12,000 investors from 42 countries. It enables entrepreneurs and high growth businesses to raise much needed expansion capital and create new partnerships for growth. The platform's co-founder Chris Thomas said Eureeca creates a corridor of investment opportunities between Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It recently raised $400,000 in 12 days on its self-funding campaign with the funds being used to fuel Eureeca’s international growth plans and continued development of their product offering.

Emirates REIT, one of the UAE’s first regulated Shari'ah compliant Real Estate Investment Trusts listed on Nasdaq Dubai, saw a 13% increase in total portfolio value. The total portfolio value stood at $742 million, a year-over-year increase of $85 million, making it the largest Shari’ah compliant REIT globally. The total property income for the nine months also increased 22% to $36.3 million. The net asset value increased to $1.60 per share, or $480.7 million. CEO Sylvain Vieujot thanked the UAE’s leaders who established a stable financial ecosystem with solid laws and regulations that have allowed the United Arab Emirates to become a world leader in Islamic finance.

Sabana Shariah Compliant REIT is the world’s first real estate investment trust that has adopted the standard of Shari’ah compliance. Sabana REIT currently has a portfolio of 21 industrial buildings that are all found in Singapore. Most of the properties are also located in close proximity to the principal industrial zones in the island, such as Penjuru and Tai Seng. For perspective, the SPDR STI ETF, an exchange-traded fund that mimics the fundamentals of the Straits Times Index, has a yield of 3.2%. In its latest quarterly earnings report Sabana REIT reported a 10.9% year-on-year decline in gross revenue and a 31.1% decline in income available for distribution.

EthisCrowd has been recognized as the Best Islamic Crowdfunding Platform for its social impact real estate campaigns in Indonesia. The Singapore-based platform received the award at the 6th Global Islamic Finance Awards (GIFA) 2016 in Jakarta. EthisCrowd said the inclusion of the crowdfunding category symbolized the growth and adoption of Islamic Crowdfunding. The platform’s community now claims 17,000 registered members who have invested in projects to build 5,000 houses for the needy in Indonesia. Ronald Yusuf Wijaya, EthisCrowd’s head of Indonesian operations, stated that affordable housing projects are commercially viable and can provide excellent returns for the crowd. EthisCrowd uses Mudarabah contracts to formalize rights to profit or revenue sharing for investors, directly with real estate developers and contractors. There is no capital guarantee or fixed interest rates for investors.

Traditionally, investments from the Arabian Gulf into Africa have focused on North Africa, but this scenario is slowly changing. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, FDI inflows from the Gulf to sub-Saharan Africa topped US$9.3 billion between 2005 and 2015, with Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Nigeria attracting the largest number of Gulf investors. Especially the sectors with high return margins are capturing the attention of investors. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are among the top investors on the continent when it comes to agriculture. The UAE’s Al Dahra Agriculture is investing in wheat farming in Egypt, while Saudi companies have invested heavily in Sudan’s agricultural sector.

Turkey’s biggest casual dining chain, Big Chefs, sold a minority share to an internationally backed private-equity firm, a sign that resilient consumer demand is drawing some investors to the country, despite July's failed coup rattling the economy. Meanwhile, leading Turkish ice-cream maker Mado is in advanced discussions with Bahrain-based Venture Capital Bank to sell a sizable minority stake, said Mr. Kotan, who is advising the Kahramanmaras-based deserts-and-food company.

RAM Ratings sees Malaysia’s leadership in Islamic finance as a catalyst for environmental, social and governance (ESG)-driven investment. RAM Ratings CEO Foo Su Yin said for ESG growth the government needs to follow a similar path to that which has led to Malaysia’s leadership position in Islamic finance. PRI managing director Fiona Reynolds said that fiduciary duty remains the biggest barrier to ESG integration. She added that investors and policymakers need to work together to ensure sustainability issues continue to gain traction. There are compelling national-interest reasons for policy makers to promote the incorporation of ESG factors into investment practices in China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea.

Launched by Al Mal Investment Company (KPSC), Takharoj is the region's first web-based application that connects minority investors in Unlisted Securities to offer them big investment privileges. A variety of functions are covered, such as management, representation, policy-making and selling shares. Commenting on the launch of Takharoj, Abdul Wahab Al Mutawa, CEO of Al Mal Investment said Takharoj's objective is to group like-minded minority shareholders to negotiate optimal outcomes. Clients only need to upload their basic investment information on the web-portal so that Takharoj can act on their behalf and in their best interest.

Malaysia’s stock exchange operator is discussing a tie-up with Indonesia’s bourse and plans further alliances to mobilize funds targeting the world’s almost $12 trillion in Shariah-compliant equities.

Bursa Malaysia Bhd. is in talks with the Indonesia Stock Exchange to explore various forms of cooperation such as allowing cross listings and hopes to start collaborating by mid-2017, Jamaluddin Nor Mohamad, Bursa’s Islamic capital market director said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur. Bursa plans to forge partnerships with exchanges in Asia and the Middle East to develop the Islamic capital market, he said.
Malaysia already tightened compliance rules for Shariah stocks in 2013 as it sought to draw overseas funds who have a stricter view on permitted investments. Shariah law forbids investments in shares of companies involved in activities considered unethical such as gambling, prostitution, alcohol and pork-related businesses.
Some 669 stocks, or 74 % of the total shares listed on Bursa Malaysia, comply with Shariah principles, according to the Securities Commission. The market regulator reviews the list twice a year based on the companies’ audited financial statements.

A Dubai-based subsidiary of Islamic investment bank GFH Financial Group has sold its remaining 18 % stake in English football club Leeds United, ending nearly 4 years of Middle Eastern involvement in the club. GFH Capital sold the stake to Eleonora Sport, operated by Italian businessman Massimo Cellino. Eleonora now owns 100 % of the club, Leeds United said.

GFH bought Leeds United in December 2012 but within months began looking for new investment in the club, and in 2014 Cellino bought a majority stake in it. GFH Financial did not reveal the price at which it sold its remaining stake but said the deal would reflect positively on its financials and liquidity for 2016. Crippled during the global credit crisis in 2008, GFH Financial went through several debt restructurings but has resumed expanding in the financial services sector. In August it signed a memorandum of understanding to buy most of Bahrain's Bank Al Khair.

SEDCO Capital has joined the RFI Foundation as an industry member. SEDCO brings a strong commitment to responsible finance as a Shari'ah compliant investment manager. SEDCO Capital offers services in asset management, including asset allocation, real estate, private equity, public equity, liquidity instruments, agriculture, timber, and commodities that conform to Shari'ah. According to CEO Blake Goud, the activities of the RFI Foundation will support greater convergence between Islamic and traditional responsible finance in the coming years.

In #Pakistan Al-Ameen Funds hosted an awareness session on Shariah Compliant Investment. The meeting was organised by Al-Ameen Funds and UBL Fund Managers in collaboration with Pakistan Stock Exchange Limited (PSX). Speakers agreed that the Islamic Funds Industry has shown impressive growth in recent years. Yasir Qadri, CEO of UBL Funds said that the local investors are more aware about the equity market than ever before. However, Islamic funds offer opportunities of investment for a vast audience which is yet to be tapped. Shahid Gul Motiwala, CEO Al-Ameen Islamic Financial Services said that there is a lot of awareness required in Pakistan regarding the benefits of making sound investment choices.

#Qatar’s QInvest said that its revenues rose to $65.7 million and net profits increased to 25.3 million (QR92.1 million), compared to $24.4 million (QR88.7 million) in H1 2015. The main drivers behind the results include exits in the firm’s investments, strong performance in its international real estate portfolio and increased fee revenue. CEO of QInvest Tamim Hamad Al-Kawari said the company recorded a satisfactory half-year performance across all business lines in the face of economic uncertainties. QInvest is reviewing and stress-testing its portfolio to match the heightened volatility levels and headwinds of the markets.

RAM Ratings has collaborated with Saturna Sdn Bhd to examine the similarities and explore the potential convergence between Islamic finance and sustainable and responsible investing. SRI has become increasingly more important in line with rising awareness about the environment, social and governance issues among regulators and investors.
The growth of SRI assets has been gathering momentum, having expanded from $13.3 trillion in 2012 to $21.4 trillion in 2014 and outpacing the growth of global professionally managed assets with a record expansion of 61 per cent.
The embodiment of SRI with the principles of fairness, equality and ethics reflects the same philosophies as those of Islamic finance, said RAM Ratings. In fact, the overlapping core values between Islamic finance and SRI could offer a solution vis-a-vis penetrating the conventional market and providing the impetus to mainstream Islamic finance. Furthermore, linkages with the Sukuk market may effectively build up a sustainable sukuk supply base, which will have a tremendous multiplier effect on staging Islamic finance’s next phase of growth.

Crowdfunding is a way to connect ordinary individuals with the innovative projects they support. It is possible for retail investors to become venture capitalists and probably own shares in the next giant tech company. In Indonesia, however, this method of raising money might face some challenges. Firstly, Indonesians have trust issues with money transactions carried out over the internet. Secondly, there is a lack of crowdfunding education among retail investors. The government needs to undertake supervisory and regulatory functions to respond to the problems.

Mohammad Daud Bakar says gold will be a game changer as a commercial asset, investment asset and hedging asset as well. There is now an attempt to put Sharia standard on gold, this will remove the worries of the scholars and regulators. Mohammad Daud Bakar believes the asset classes have to be expanded and Islamic banking shouldn't rely so much on commodities.

Leader of Russia’s Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, is courting investment from Saudi Arabia. Kadyrov received a Saudi delegation in St Petersburg over the weekend, during which he discussed increasing the partnership between Chechenya and Riyadh. In January Kadyrov announced he is looking to open an Islamic bank, in order to attract investors from the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf.

Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) will begin investors meetings in May for a potential issue of sharia-compliant bonds, the firm said on Sunday.
Sipchem has appointed Riyad Capital and NCB Capital as managers of the possible sukuk, the value of which "will be determined based on market conditions", according to a Riyadh bourse filing.
On March 28, Sipchem announced its board had approved issuing sukuk.

Malaysian transportation provider Perak Transit aims to raise RM10mil in the form of a RM10mil term financing facility for three years via the investment account platform (IAP). Bank Muamalat is acting as the investment manager for the exercise, where the RM10mil is expected to generate a return of 6.5% per annum to investors. Investors can register at iaplatform.com to place their investments in Perak Transit, which starts at a minimum of RM10,000.

RHB Islamic International Asset Management (IIAM) has launched the RHB Islamic Asian Megatrend Fund, leveraging on the growth potential of Asian markets. According to RHB Group Asset Management managing director Eliza Ong the total assets under the fund stand at RM127 million. The fund is looking at a return of between eight and 12 per cent per annum over the next three to five years.