REUTERS NEWS ADVISORY
February 18, 2010
Continuous Coverage Available on Reuters.com
Below are Links to News Stories Filed Wednesday from the Reuters Islamic Banking and Finance Summit Held in Dubai, Manama, London, Geneva, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta
Private equity boom seen for Islamic finance
DUBAI (Reuters) - 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.
"Private equity is going to be a big boom area," said Harris Irfan, head of Islamic Products at Barclays Capital, speaking at the Reuters Islamic Banking and Finance Summit.
"The capabilities of producing sharia- compliant private equity funds are actually very limited in the market despite the fact that people talk about private equity and Islamic finance as a natural fit."
The full text of the story is on Reuters.com at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61G2QX20100217
France risks sharia credentials over sukuk delay
LONDON (Reuters) - France must host a sukuk issuance this year to show it is serious about Islamic finance and overcome the legal uncertainties that caused a delay to a 1 billion euro ($1.37 billion) issuance, a lawyer working on the deal Told Reuters on Wednesday.
At least one French Islamic corporate bond, or sukuk, had been expected last year but was delayed by legal hurdles.
"In 2010 we need to have at least one sukuk issuance if we want to really move forward and have France playing a major role in the development of Islamic finance in Europe," said Gilles Saint Marc, a lawyer and a member of the Islamic Finance committee at Paris Europlace, the body which promotes the French capital's financial district.
France and Britain have been involved in a tentative race to take a lead on sukuk issuance in Europe, although appetite on the continent has been dampened in the wake of wranglings over debt in Dubai.
Saint Marc acknowledges that the industry has been deeply hit by the sukuk defaults of last year and the Dubai World DBWLD.UL standstill request on $26 billion of debt, partly Islamic.
However, he told Reuters he is still confident the delayed 1 billion euro ($1.37 billion) Islamic bond -- which has already received approval from sharia scholars in the Middle East -- will be able to raise the target amount.
"The cash is available, the question is more the structure and the practical feasibility from the legal and accounting point of view, and of course the sharia one," Saint Marc said at the Reuters Islamic Banking and Finance Summit.
The full text of the story is on Reuters.com at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61G2Q920100217
Islamic real estate again in vogue: S&P
LONDON (Reuters) - Sharia-compliant investors are taking a renewed interest in commercial and residential real estate across the gulf region, trying to time any investments to catch a rebound in prices, Standard & Poor's told Reuters on Wednesday.
"Despite the big hit that the real estate market has taken in the Middle East, there is interest coming back in to this space," Alka Banerjee, vice president of global equity at S&P, told the Reuters Islamic Banking and Finance Summit.
"It's still very tentative, but it (interest in investing in real estate) is definitely there," Banerjee said. "We're seeing all the signals."
She told Reuters she has received several enquiries to create real estate sector indices that included companies in the Arabic-speaking and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) regions.
Commercial property prices plunged across the Gulf region as the global financial crisis took hold, with Dubai experiencing the worst of the falls as finance dried up, developers halted projects and investors stopped buying.
"The (Middle East Real Estate) market is at rock bottom, you should get in now and maybe you will have to be there for another 12 months before you see the returns, but this is the time to get in," Banerjee said.
"This is being pitched as a long-term play, because you are really buying at the bottom (of the market)."
Banerjee also said she expected the S&P's Islamic indices business to grow by 15-20 percent in 2010, although increased interest in real estate would not drive that. Even so, the business would still account for less than 5 percent of total, she added.
"The growth rate is based on the demand for our indices across the board," Banerjee said, adding that the key risk to the predicted growth was a further economic meltdown in the region.
The full text of the story is on Reuters.com at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61G3J120100217
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