IslamicFinance.de

Nakheel expects its $10.9 billion debt restructuring process to be completed by the first half of 2011.
It said it will soon issue restructuring agreements, including a term sheet for an Islamic bond offering, to trade creditors that have signed on to its restructuring plan.
Under Nakheel's restructuring proposal, trade creditors will receive repayment through 40 per cent cash and 60 per cent in the form of an Islamic bond, or sukuk.

Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) will pump $3.6 billion into the local commercial property market as the Gulf state's sovereign wealth fund seeks to bolster the struggling sector and benefit from plunging prices.
Such huge liquidity in the real estate market will reflect positively on local investment and real estate firms, and the country's bourse as well.

SNR Denton has announced that the firm advised Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC, Al Hilal Bank PJSC, Mubadala GE Capital PJSC, Al Khalij Commercial Bank, Al Khaliji France SA, Ajman Bank PJSC and First Gulf Bank PJSC on their successful participation in a Dh250 million Sharia-compliant facility.
The facility was made available to Emirates National Factory for Plastic Industries LLC, based in Sharjah.

In the oppinion of Saleh Bin Abdullah Kamel, the head of the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce, the best way to overcome unemployment in the Muslim World is in the application of Islamic economics and Zakat.
Sheikh Kamel stressed in a speech during the first session of the last day of the Jeddah Economic Forum 2011 that the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency should expedite setting up Shariah supervisory boards to regulate the work of banks.

The Quarterly Bulletin of Malaysian Islamic Capital Market by the Securities Commission Malaysia is online; it features thoughts of Professor Volker Nienhaus on Regulations and Shariah in the aftermath of the crisis and contains further market updates.

The third annual revew from oekom analyzes the CSR performance of approximately 3,100 companies across 50 companies finds only minimal preparedness for measuring and reducing environmental impacts.
Some findings from the report:
- Mutual funds in Europe have recorded new highs in terms of numbers as well as volume. 897 funds with a volume of 75.3 billion euros were licensed for distribution, as at 30 June 2010. France is by far the largest market for mutual funds.
- In? the?German-speaking countries, 354 mutual funds with a total volume of 34 billion euros had been licensed for distribution by the end of 2010. The number of funds has hit a new high, volumes have reached pre-crisis levels.

Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) has sold an undisclosed minority stake to Dubai-based Islamic investment firm Fajr Capital as the Asian bank bids to extend its international reach.
Brunei's government has a 45 percent stake in the bank, while the Sultan of Brunei's charitable foundation owns a 25 percent stake.
Javed Ahmad, managing director at BIBD, declined to comment on the exact size of the deal or its value, but when talk surfaced last June that a stake sale might be in the offing,

PT Bank Muamalat planned to issue 1 trillion rupiah ($114.6 million) of sukuk in 2012 and that was considering raising up to 1 trillion rupiah in capital through a rights issue or sale of subordinated debt.

Although there is growing interest in Shari'ah compliant investment funds in Italy, the economic climate has seen investors bunker down into conservative assets. This information was given by Roberto Demartini, fund analyst for S&P. He explained that the typical Italian investor is very conservative and volatility averse and hence the perception is that Islamic funds would not fit this outlook.

Yemen's IMF-backed Sukuk program is on the brink of veering off the rails due to the ongoing anti-government protests that have spread from the capital Sana'a across the southern Gulf nation.
The Central bank of Yemen is maintaining radio silence, and not entertaining questions about the Sukuk program from the media.
Despite the situation on the streets escalating into deadly violence, the government is trying to act as though it is business as usual.

MARC considers Maybank Islamic to be one of the core subsidiaries of Maybank and an integral part of the Group.
Maybank Islamic’s ratings therefore, reflect a very high probability of support from its parent.
Maybank’s ownership in Maybank Islamic, the operational integration and shared branding, in addition to the strategic role of Maybank Islamic in the Group’s Islamic banking operations are key factors underpinning MARC’s opinion that Maybank Islamic will benefit from the full support and credit strength of the Maybank Group.

Wasim Akhtar Saifi, Global Head of Islamic Banking for its Consumer Banking business will arrive in Dhaka today (Tuesday) for a two-day official visit.
He will be meeting various stakeholders of the bank during his visit.

IDB Group President Ahmad Mohamed Ali has invited the business communities from IDB member countries to take part in the Sarajevo Business Forum 2011 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The forum will offer businessmen an opportunity to network and establish business relations with their counterparts in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Macedonia, Ali told a press conference organized on the sidelines of Jeddah Economic Forum at the Jeddah Hilton on Monday.

Faysal Bank Limited has signed a Bancatakaful agreement with Pak-Qatar Family Takaful Limited and FWU AG a global facilitator of Bancatakaful at Faysal House Karachi recently.
Bancatakaful agreement was signed by Aarij Ali, Head Retail Banking of Faysal Bank Limited and P. Ahmed, CEO Pak-Qatar Family Takaful Limited.

CapAsia is going to provide $20.5m of equity capital to finance two wind farms in Pakistan. The firm made the investment through its Islamic Infrastructure Fund (IIF), a $262m vehicle sponsored by the Asian Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank.

The political conflict in the Middle East will make it more expensive for companies in the Arab Gulf such as First Gulf Bank PJSC and Masraf al-Rayan to issue Islamic bonds as relative yields hold near the highest level in more than three months.
First Gulf plans to sell bonds or sukuk this year. Masraf said March 15 it will seek shareholder approval to issue as much as $1 billion of Shariah-compliant debt.

Kuwait Finance House-Bahrain officially opened its new state-of-the-art data centre. It was opened by KFH-Bahrain managing director and chief executive officer Abdulhakeem Alkhayyat.
The opening of the data centre is in line with the bank's strategic expansion plans to provide world-class banking services with maximum security and backup on all its day-to-day transactions.

The agency says the political crisis in Bahrain escalated with the arrival of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) troops, a crackdown on anti-government protests, the arrest of opposition leaders, and the imposition of a 12-hour daily curfew. This increasing tension reinforces fears of prolonged political and economic uncertainty, which is likely to hurt the banks’ financial condition.
The ratings agency’s concerns for the system as a whole are partly mitigated by improved loan-to-deposit ratios and liquid asset levels compared with before the 2008 financial crisis, as banks cut back on new lending.

The agency says the political crisis in Bahrain escalated with the arrival of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) troops, a crackdown on anti-government protests, the arrest of opposition leaders, and the imposition of a 12-hour daily curfew. This increasing tension reinforces fears of prolonged political and economic uncertainty, which is likely to hurt the banks’ financial condition.
The ratings agency’s concerns for the system as a whole are partly mitigated by improved loan-to-deposit ratios and liquid asset levels compared with before the 2008 financial crisis, as banks cut back on new lending.

Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd recently received an award for Corporate Social Responsibility category at the Takaful Awards Night organised for the second time by the Malaysian Takaful Association.
At the event, Takaful IKHLAS had also won four more awards namely: BancaTakaful: Top Person Producer Award, BancaTakaful: Top Person Producer Award - Investment-Link Regular, BancaTakaful: Top Person Producer Award - Investment - Link Single and Young Takaful Manager Award.