IslamicFinance.de

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.

Since the global economic downturn in 2008, Dubai has sought to display signs of financial improvement. And the glitzy sheikhdom of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has begun to demonstrate growth, except in real estate.
Despite the pessimism pervading the market, Dubai launched a Shariah-compliant real estate investment trust (REIT) in November. Emirates REIT, jointly developed by Dubai Islamic Bank and Eiffel Management, a French REIT specialist, joins a number of Shariah-compliant REITs that have been set up Asia and the Middle East over recent months. Governments and Islamic financiers alike hope the new products will spur investment from Muslims and non-Muslims into these regional real estate sectors.

The Real Estate Development Fund (REDF) has approved 25,000 loans to help finance construction of 3,000 residential units in cities and provinces in the Kingdom in accordance with its priority list of loan applications.
Hasan Al-Attas, REDF’s Acting Director General, gave a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) in which was said that the value of the loans amounts to SR7.5 billion, representing the second tranche of the generous support ordered by King Abdullah.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi is ready to launch conventional and Islamic Real Estate Investment Trusts, or REITs, but is waiting for the right time to go ahead.

Although prices are still expected to drop further, confidence is returning to specific locations and developments in the Dubai real estate market with the re-emergence of key lenders.
Projects such as The Old Town, Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah, The Meadows and The Greens are proving to be more resilient in both the sales and leasing market.
The reports points out that buyers now have the financial option to upgrade to better quality units in more desirable locations. These improvements on efficiency and quality can only enhance the reputation of the real estate market in Dubai.

Barwa Real Estate Company QSC and Gazprombank OJSC announced yesterday the first closing of the Shariah compliant, Barwa Gazprombank Russia Real Estate Fund. The Fund represents the first collaboration between Barwa and Gazprombank and the two companies will seed the Fund with $75m capital each.
The First Investor QSCC (TFI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barwa Bank, will contribute $2m into the Fund.

Global Islamic real estate consultancy Alpha1Estates International states that the new decade will usher in a maturing phase of the real estate sector of Makkah and Madinah, leading to a lucrative boom in the Holy Cities.
The company said that the coming one would focus more on building non-physical infrastructure aimed at convenience - for the pilgrim (resident and visitor) and investor (domestic, regional and global).

The construction and real estate sectors in Dubai have seen a decrease of almost 5%.
Opportunistic investment funds see a 6 month window to capitalize on Dubai's growing inventory of distressed commercial and residential property, often sold below original purchase price.
The property and construction sectors are the worst hit in the emirate by the global economic downturn.

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) reported a net profit of $10m following the liquidation of a real estate fund targeting the Turkish market.
The liquidation process seem to come with a return on investment of 14 percent.

Kuwait Finance House is looking for real estate investments in southern China and Europe.
Its real estate arm has investments primarily in key US cities, Malaysia, Shenzhen in China, and the Middle East.
Al-Ghannam said the company would prefer to invest in existing projects with local partners, rather than going into residential construction.

R Lakshmanan, Chief Executive Officer of Sakana Holistic Housing Solutions, said that Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) providing mortgages for off-plan properties are significantly exposed to risks due to delayed delivery and cancellation of several real estate projects, because the IFI owns the asset.
In addition, the mortgage providers have also been affected to fall in property prices and increased defaults due to job losses. His presentation focused on Ijara Mawsofah fi Dhimah (Forward Lease) structure of financing which is used by the mortgage providers for off-plan properties.
Lakshmanan also said that due care should be taken while preparing legal documentation with particular emphasis on penalties due to delayed delivery as this may have a financial impact on the IFI’s operating results. In addition, the IFI should ensure robust credit risk/control. Lakshmanan concluded that adoption of better risk management practices will enable growth of Islamic finance.

Arcapita Bank, a leading international investment firm headquartered in Bahrain, announced today that it and its affiliates have successfully completed the IPO of a portfolio of 64 industrial properties in Singapore.
In July 2008, Arcapita’s Singapore-based real estate team entered into a joint venture with Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd, a leading Singapore real estate company, to acquire a diverse, industrial real estate portfolio strategically located in Singapore. The portfolio comprises flatted factories, stack-up/ramp–up buildings, business park buildings and a warehouse.

The Private Financial Services Department Manager at Kuwait Finance House (KFH) Talal Al-Nesf announced that KFH's local real estate portfolio 2 achieved high returns that resulted in the distribution of 6% annual profit.
He added that the portfolio that has a capital of KD60m began operating in July and distributes quarterly profits, such as groups of investment and commercial real estate in Kuwait; noting that such results reveal the success of KFH's policy to focus on quality assets that yield high returns. He stated that each investment project is carefully studied to achieve high returns with minimal risks.
Moreover, he revealed in a press statement that KFH is in the final stages of the process of selling real estate of KFH's real estate fund in Turkey with over 12% of capital profit.

Dubai Islamic Bank's real estate exposure has crossed half of its total loan book following the acquisition of mortgage lender Tamweel , putting pressure on the bank's balance sheet due to rising mortgage delinquencies.
The bank has been attempting to restrain its property exposure over recent quarters, and this transaction reverses this trend, a study said.
According to Madha, Istithmar, Dubai Capital Group, Dubai Investment Group and others - which are short of cash - sold Tamweel stake to DIB.

The International Real Estate Department Manager at Kuwait Finance House (KFH) Ali Al-Ghannam said that investing in the field of international real estate is one of the KFH’s fruitful fields of business, since many global markets were affected by the global economic crisis in various fields, such as credit, but the value of their real estate were not affected in general and continued to achieve rewarding revenues to their owners.
Al-Ghannam, who made the previous statements during his participation in the annual meeting of the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE) in Chicago, stated that KFH’s continuously growing international real estate portfolio manages assets worth $1.5 billion.

Steuerliche Würdigung im nationalen und internationalen Kontext

Der Markt Islamic Finance wächst rasant und umfasst bereits heute ein erhebliches Anlagevolumen. Demgegenüber besteht ein großer Kapitalbedarf in der europäischen, speziell auch in der deutschen Realwirtschaft ebenso wie ein Bedarf an Investoren.

Bei der Umsetzung von Islamic-Finance-Vertragsmodellen kann die Besteuerung im Einzelfall eine ausschlaggebende Rolle spielen. Daher erläutert die Autorin in diesem Buch für ausgewählte schariakonforme Finanzierungs- und Anlageformen zunächst die Scharia-Rahmenbedingungen der jeweiligen Vertragsmodelle aus deutscher rechtlicher, ertragsteuerlicher und verkehrsteuerlicher Sicht. Die steuerlichen Fragestellungen werden anhand von Beispielen im grenzüberschreitenden Corporate Bereich im Schnittpunkt von deutschem internationalem Steuerrecht und ausländischem Steuerrecht der weiteren beteiligen Staaten verdeutlicht.

Inhalt

* Einleitung
* Grundzüge von Islamic-Finance-Vertragsmodellen
- eigenkapitalbasierte („Musharaka“ und „Mudaraba“),
- fremdkapitalbasierte („Murabaha“ und „Tawarruq“) sowie

ResearchGATE is the largest social network for academic research globally. Dedicated social profiles of researchers allow to enter academic careers, published articles in journals and books, announce fields of research for international exchange just to name a few of the features.

IslamicFinance.de took another effort to create a dedicated group and invite researchers globally to use this platform and foster research in Islamic finance. The last academic initiative taken was to sponsor and start a full fledged platform for the Islamic Finance WIKI, the online encyclopedia.

Researchers are invited to participate in these initiatives.

Please visit:
http://www.researchgate.net/group/Islamic_Finance/

Qatar is expected to be the largest source of real estate capital during 2010, a Jones Lang LaSalle report said. Recent investments - such as the purchase of London department store Harrods in May are likely to be followed by further investments in other markets across Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia, it said. Qatar's competitive advantage will be helped by the decline in investment from German funds.