IslamicFinance.de

The conventional private equity (PE) industry's taking advantage of excessive cheap debt before the global financial crisis in 2008 has a negative effect when the markets collapsed. In contrast, Islamic PE was able to avoid this situation by relying on restrictions on taking conventional forms of leverage. According to Qatar Finance Centre Authority's director, Yousuf Al-Jaida, there is a strong correlation between Islamic PE and the real economy. The huge difference between the both tyes of PE is that Islamic PE is based on Shariah principles which excludes businesses such as breweries, casinos, riba-based banks and pig farms.

The GCC countries expect a record year for sukuk issuances in 2012. Already the first half of the year was marked by explosively growing sukuk issuances that reached to US $12.8 billion compared to US$1.9 billion issuead in the same period last year. The sukuk market shall continue growing at the current pace, due to a strong appetite of investors that are demanding Shariah-compliant products.