IslamicFinance.de

A $100 million fund has been launched in Bahrain to invest in the country's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The initiative has been unveiled by the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) in partnership with Ibdar Bank and Labour Fund Tamkeen. The Bahrain SME Fund is a Shariah compliant mezzanine private equity fund which will target SMEs with high growth potential in consumer, industrial, ICT, education and healthcare sectors. Khalid Al Aboudi, CEO of the ICD, said that SME support is at the centre of ICD’s strategy as they seek to facilitate further prosperity in Islamic countries. Ahmed Al-Rayes, CIO of Ibdar Bank, added that the creation of this fund is aligned with the Bank’s mission to support Bahrain’s economic diversification through private sector growth.

The unexpected victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential election caused the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to wait a bit longer to assess the impact on the regional bond market. IDB will announce this week plans for investor roadshows covering its planned sukuk sale. The issue, expected to be in excess of $1 billion, is one of the few remaining debt sales likely to be completed in the Middle East before the end of this year. Some Middle Eastern bond transactions for which banks had already been mandated have been put on hold and potential borrowers have decided to wait until January to see how markets perform. In addition to the IDB, Abu Dhabi airline Etihad is also expected to launch a sukuk issue soon, likely to be in the $1 billion region. The bond is expected to be executed later this week.

Dubai capital market seems to be lively again after two new Islamic bonds in value of $500m respectively $650m has been issued this year. After a long period of uncertainity, this should be a turning point for secondary market as well as key driver for region's capital markets in order to get back on the desired growth path.

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