IslamicFinance.de

HSBC claims that bond sales by government-related companies in the Persian Gulf will be able to pick up at the beginning of next year. Then, more than $1 trillion in planned spending will be supported. The reason for the optimism towards bond sales is that this year's issuance by government-related enterprises fell to about $9.9 billion. Compared to that, it was $13 billion last year and $8 billion in 2010.

Dana Gas PJSC was able to conclude a restructuring deal with sukukholders including BlackRock Inc. (BLK). Thus, the formerly mentioned seizure of its Egyptian energy assets will be averted. The company has reached an in-principle agreement with its creditors, according to which it will convert the Islamic bonds into an ordinary and a convertible sukuk. Sukukholders will receive a partial cash payment as well.

According to data from World Bank, nine out of ten adults in Egypt do not have a bank account because they rarely have excess money to put in and do something with it. With a little number of clients, promoting Shariah- compliant financing is quite problematic. In order to enable the growth and profit of Islamic banking in the nation constituted mostly of Muslims, the Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi neesd to lift the country's economic growth from 2011’s 19-year low of 1.8%. New laws increasing the share of Shariah-compliant deposits from the current 6% and enabling borrowers to sell bonds in accordance with Shariah principles are being prepared by the President.

Read more on: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-24/egypt-s-savings-vacuum-shows-st...

Barclays Bank of Kenya Ltd. announced the beginning of Shariah-compliant asset-finance product offer for corporates companies. This way it attempts to meet the growing demand of those companies. Barclays set aside $30 million for the so-called Corporate La Riba Asset Finance product. The latter includes fixed pricing and repayment periods of up to five years.

Read more on: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-16/barclays-kenya-to-offer-shariah...

QInvest LLC, which is forming a joint venture with Egyptian EFG-Hermes Holding SAE, issaid to be cutting jobs at its brokerage and asset management divisions. 13 people will have to leave. The reductions, however, have not been made public yet. In the joint venture, QInvest LLC plans to take 60% of the new entity while EFG-Hermes Holding SAE receives the remaining 40%.

Read more on: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-10/qinvest-said-to-cut-jobs-at-bro...

According to a senior bank official, Barclays Bank Egypt SAE discusses involving in the Egyptian Islamic banking market and to increase loans to small and medium businesses. Thus, the bank intends to implement new ways to generate revenue. Replication of its South African Islamic products in Egypt is one of the main topics considered. Since SMEs provide 70% of the country's economic growth, Barclays Bank have been examining in detail lending to SMEs for the last two years.

Read more on: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-10/barclays-weighs-islamic-finance...

HSBC decied to exit the get out of the Shariah-compliant business in the U.K., the UAE, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Singabpor and Mauritius due to high local competition and relatively small market size where there is not sufficient scale to be economic.

See also under: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-04/hsbc-ceases-selling-retail-shar...

An Egyptian professor of Islamic studies claims, it is allowed for Muslims to borrow non Shariah-compliant options, if there is an extreme need. However there are ultra-orthodox voices saying that such loans are violating Islam's beliefs. In their opinion Islamic countries should decry loans from International Monetary Fund and search other ways of covering debt.

See more under: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-01/imf-aid-cheaper-than-aa-debt-wo...

Deutsche Bank claims the GCC bond sales will remain strong as companies in these countries look for alternative financial sources as those of European banks that are continuously declining. CEO for the Middle East believes that the GCC region relies a lot on bank loans, which are going to be less and less accessible.

See more under: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-30/deutsche-bank-s-aram-says-gulf-...

After Dana Gas PJSC's biggest shareholder announced the possibility for the fuel producer to come to a satisfactory resolution with investors on $1 billion in Islamic bonds maturing next month, the company has surged significantly. The shares soared the highest percentage since February 19th - 4.9%. Abu Dhabi’s benchmark ADX General Index (ADSMI) and the Bloomberg GCC 200 Index (BGCC200) display Dana Gas as the company with the highest trading volume.

More on http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-19/dana-surges-as-investors-see-su...

Financial Times Deutschland reports that Kuveyt Tuerk will open the first sharia compliant banking branch in Germany. The bank's headquarters will be in Frankfurt. Other branches are to be opened in other cities with a high density of Muslim inhabitants, according to FTD.

Development Bank of Kazakhstan has lately decided to swap their 240 million-ringgit sukuk (five-year murabaha Islamic note) to U.S. dollars. The Astana-based bank already sold debt denominated in the Malaysian currency in July of this year, in order to prepare the dollar swap that comes due in August 2017.

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIBK) acting CEO Ahmad Meshari declined to comment on a report in Haberturk newspaper on March 10 that the bank plans to buy 25 % of Asya Katilim.

Qatar Islamic Bank wants to enter the Turkish market and is looking into buying other Islamic units in Qatar, its acting CEO Ahmad Meshari said in Doha yesterday.

AL BARAKA BANK EGYPT ESC, a unit of Bahrain-based Albaraka Banking Group, may sell dollar-denominated Islamic bonds in the second half of 2011, the bank’s chairman said Sept. 29. The bank has not decided on the size of the bond, he said.

Banks and companies in the Arabian Gulf may issue the most Islamic debt in three years in the fourth quarter as economic growth accelerates and Dubai’s companies reach agreements to restructure debt. The combination of declining yields in emerging markets and a successful restructuring of state-owned Dubai World’s debt may spur more sales, according to Exotix and Royal Capital PJSC.

The following borrowers are expected to sell Islamic bonds:

TURKEY: Citigroup Inc. plans to arrange more sales of Islamic bonds from Turkey after managing a $100 million issue for Kuveyt Turk Katilim Bankasi AS, said Hulusi Horozoglu, director of global Islamic banking at Citigroup.

PAKISTAN: The South Asian country plans to sell sukuk maturing in a year or less in the domestic market by the end of this month, according to an e-mailed statement from Syed Wasimuddin, a spokesman for State Bank of Pakistan, the nation’s central bank.

CAGAMAS BHD.: Malaysia’s national mortgage company plans to sell more Islamic bonds this month following a sale in August under its 5 billion ringgit ($1.6 billion) sukuk program, the Business Times reported, citing an unidentified person familiar with the proposal.

INDONESIA: plans to sell 2 trillion rupiah ($224 million) of Islamic bonds by private placement this year, said Rahmat Waluyanto, a director at the Ministry of Finance.

Nakheel PJSC’s plan to offer Islamic bonds to creditors may revive sukuk trading in the Persian Gulf after new sales fell to a five-year low, according to Moody’s Investors Service and Mashreq Capital DIFC Ltd. Thomas Barry said that contractors are likely to sell Nakheel’s sukuk to pay bills. Thomas Barry is chief executive officer of Arabtec Construction LLC. In April, the company said its trade creditors would be offered 100 percent recovery of their claims -- 40 percent through a cash payment and 60 percent in the form of a tradable sukuk. More than 80 percent of Nakheel’s contractors have agreed. Abdul Kadir Hussain said sukuk sales from the region are likely to pick up in the fourth quarter. Nakheel and its parent Dubai World, one of the emirate’s three main holding companies, are renegotiating debt terms after the deepest financial crisis since the 1930s roiled Dubai’s real-estate market and left companies unable to raise financing. Property prices have fallen more than 50 percent in the city as banks cut mortgage lending, according to estimates from Colliers International.

Sovereign Islamic bonds from Asia to the Persian Gulf are lowering returns on corporate sukuk for the first time in three months.

Malaysia’s Lembaga Tabung Haji fund, France’s BNP Paribas Investment Partners and Duet Mena Ltd. in Dubai forecast government debt will outperform until property prices in the Persian Gulf recover from a slump that prompted credit-ratings companies to downgrade corporate bonds.

Faysal Bank Ltd., a Pakistani lender, plans to participate in the process to acquire a majority stake in the Pakistan unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, according to a notice issued today.