IslamicFinance.de

Dr. Natalie Schoon became a new member of the Board of Directors at Noriba Investing - the world's first online Halal Investing broker. Mrs. Schoon belongs to the Islamic Finance industry's most capable practitioners, due to her vast experience in various board leadershiop roles with some of the largest brands in the world.

Investors in Aldar Properties' $ 1.1 billion sukuk are gambling on the fact that the indebted developer will repay the issue even if it means more aid from Abu Dhabi which the company out this year.
The sukuk was established as an exchangeable bond by National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Barclays Capital and Credit Suisse, at a conversion price of $ 1.55 or 5.69 dirhams.

It seems that Barclays Capital will have its attention on growing its liquidity management and risk management businesses as the Islamic bond market continues to have problems because of global economic worries.
Barclays will launch an Islamic structured notes programme in the near future.
Barclays will also develop its Islamic liquidity management offerings, such as repurchase agreements (repos), to markets such as Africa where Islamic finance is anticipated to grow.

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.

The government hired CIMB Investment Bank Bhd., a Kuala Lumpur-based unit of CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. as a lead manager to sell between $1 billion and $1.5 billion of the securities.
This sell won't however appeal to most local funds unless the emirate obtains a rating.
Dubai is tapping international debt markets to raise funds as the government and state-controlled companies grapple to service borrowings that Barclays Capital estimated in a September report at about $112 billion.

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.

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.

The hedge fund platform Al Safi set up by Barclays Capital is planning Private Equity funds, reported Pratima Desai and Cecilia Valente on Reuters.

Indonesia began gauging interest this week for its maiden global sukuk that is expected to raise up to USD 650 mn. Sri Mulyani Indrawati, finance minister, confirmed that the offering circular for the Sukuk Al Ijara reported John Aglionby in the Financial Times. Barclays Capital, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank are marketing the Sukuk. t has been rated Ba3 from Moody’s Investors Service, BB- from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and BB from Fitch Ratings.

Yields on traditional government bonds are coming down: The government’s 10-year paper is now offering 11.99%, down from above 14 % in February. Indonesia’s credit default swap spreads over US Treasuries have tightened to 491 bps, down from well over 1,000 bps late last year.