IslamicFinance.de

The Oasis Group is advancing very fact in expanding its overseas operations and plans to open an office in London later this year as part of its expansion strategy.
Michael Bear, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, stated that high level financial and business services in South Africa and London are on a fast track for much closer cooperation. He also added that this will benefit both countries.
Oasis made its most critical move when it opened its office in Ireland, Dublin. Today it has six funds listed on the Irish stock exchange including its two flagship funds - the Oasis Global Equity Fund and the Oasis Crescent Global Equity Fund; the Oasis Crescent International Property Equity Feeder Fund; the Oasis Crescent Global Income Fund; the Oasis Crescent Global Low Equity Balanced Fund; and the Oasis Global Money Market Fund.

Adnan Yousif, Chief Executive Officer of Al Baraka Banking Group and President of the Union of Arab Banks, declined suggestions of capital flight from Syria to Lebanon.
Adnan stated that the Union calls for Arab banks to always be cautious in terms of funding and liquidity.

Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation hmade a donation of SR200,000 to the Alwid Charitable Association for Takaful and Family Development in Alkhobar.
The association has the purpose to raise communities’ cultural, social, health, economic and environmental levels and make them more effective through educational programs and special training.

Nakheel brought upon itself impairments of 73.8 billion dirhams in 2009, primarily related to the carrying value of assets and capital work in progress.
I seems that after just finishing a complex debt restructuring last month, the company devalued up to 78.6 billion dirhams ($21.4 billion) of its real estate assets due to a property crisis in the emirate.
The Dubai government along with another debt ridden property firm Limitless will control from now on the comapny.

Amanie Advisors opened a new office in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, having as purpose to captalise on the considerable business potential in Egypt and North Africa advising bankers and fund managers.
Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar is administring the Amanie Advisors group.
Dr. Bakar is also the Chairman of Shariah Advisory Board of Central Bank of Malaysia and Securities Commission of Malaysia as well a member of Shariah board of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI); Morgan Stanley (Dubai); Noor Islamic Bank and Takaful (Dubai); Bank of London and Middle East (London); and Jadwa-Rusell Islamic Funds (Riyad), amongst others.

It appears that Sri Lanka's Amana Takaful wants to raise 16 million rufiyaa in an initial public offer by selling 800,000 shares.
The opening will be on September 20 and the shares are going to be sold at 20 rufiyaa each.

Bank Mellat prooved to have the the biggest increase in profits among all banks active in Turkey over the first six months of the year. It had profits in Turkey of 32.6 million liras ($18.5 million) in the first half, a 217% increase over last year's figure for the same period of 10.3 million and the biggest increase among banks in Turkey.

Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, CEO of Malaysia's CIMB Islamic, stated that his Islamic banking unit will be growing its contribution to its parent company's loan book this year.
He is sure that he will increase the contributes from 13.8% now, to between 15% and 19%.

Reit UDR has acquired a 217-unit luxury apartment community in Arlington, Virginia - Twenty400 - for $84m in cash and debt. This explains its joint venture with Kuwait Finance House.
The deal contained $49.5m in interest-only debt from Fannie Mae, alongside equity contributions of $24.2m from KFH and $10.4m, under the 70:30 terms of the joint venture.

Islamic investors were fooled by the Islamic private equity as it has been a rip-off over the last 10 years.
John Sandwick expressed his oppinion that the growth of Islamic private equity to a $50bn industry by the end of 2007 was a product of abounding cheap credit thrown around in the run up to the global financial collapse which resulted in the formation of a vast bubble.

Gulf Finance House is on a questionable way of rise and fall because of its overextension with ambitious real estate adventures before the collapse of the world economy in 2008.
The $11.2m second quarter loss seems to be because of higher finance expenses and exchange rates.
The paring of the bank's losses turned around with a modest profit of $700,000 for the first half of the year with total income rising 27% to $32.8m on the back of asset sell-offs, including exits from investments in Bahrain Financial Harbor, Qinvest and Saudi Real Estate Company which raised some $300m and the settlement of liabilities.

It seems that Qatari insurance and Takaful market is experiencing a slowdown with local firms, mainly operating in the non-life sector.
Reports show that one of the main reason is the rise in premiums yielded to reinsurance companies.

Takafol will become part of Absa Islamic Banking and perform under the name Absa Takafol.
Amman Muhammad, Managing Director of Absa Islamic Banking, stated that Absa Takafol will look at the way they expand their service offering beyond banking and provide customers with an unparalleled Islamic value proposition.
It seems that the possible market for Takaful products in South Africa has been estimated at ZAR 3 billion ($412 million).

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 Oger revealed that it has assigned banks to arrange its first loan to be run by non-Saudi institutions, with syndication expected to begin shortly.
The initial mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners for the deal will be Deutsche Bank, China Development Bank and Emirates NBD.
Abu Dhabi's Al Hilal Bank and Barclays Capital have been assigned responsability as lead arrangers for the APG only.

Saudi Oger revealed that it has assigned banks to arrange its first loan to be run by non-Saudi institutions, with syndication expected to begin shortly.
The initial mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners for the deal will be Deutsche Bank, China Development Bank and Emirates NBD.
Abu Dhabi's Al Hilal Bank and Barclays Capital have been assigned responsability as lead arrangers for the APG only.

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.

Standard and Poor’s (S&P) stated that Turkey’s participation (Islamic banks) “could continue their recent strong growth if they can cultivate stronger ties with their international owners and create a sustainable brand image,”. This puts ground to an Islamic finance market which is as old as the one in Malaysia and others in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
Turkiye Finans, Kuveyt Turk Participation Bank (KTPB) and Albaraka Turk Participation Bank (ATPB) have got majority GCC ownership interests. Asya Participation Bank (APB) has arranged a joint venture with the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the private sector funding arm of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB), called Tamweel Africa which invests in financial institutions, leasing entities and extends lines of credit to finance trade in sub-Saharan Africa.

Three local Islamic investment banks that are looking to merge are being advised by Kuwait Finance House - Bahrain (KFH-Bahrain).
Abdulhakeem Alkhayyat, managing director and chief executive officer, refused to reveal the name of the three banks.
The bank continued to extend its presence in Bahrain's competitive banking sector and empowered its expansion plans with the official opening of its branch at Isa Town Mall.

The Islamic funds and investments industry has won substantial momentum at an international level as more and more international issuers and investors are still looking for Sharia-compliant instruments as an attractive alternative for raising capital.
The Seventh Annual World Islamic Funds and Financial Markets Conference (WIFFMC 2011) will focus on critical discussions that will put accent on strengthening the Islamic funds and investments industry and building international growth by tapping into exciting new jurisdictions.