MALAYSIA - FINANCE - Public Mutual launching new Islamic fund tomorrow - Indonesia on the list for investments

KUALA LUMPUR: Public Mutual, Malaysia's largest private unit trust company with 91 funds under management, is launching a new Islamic fund, Public Islamic Savings Fund, tomorrow.

"As the fund focuses its investments mainly in the domestic market, it offers investors an opportunity to capitalise on Malaysia's resilient economic growth prospects in the medium to long-term," said its chief executive officer Yeoh Kim Hong in a statement today.  (source)

PHILIPPINES - DBP to unload 44% stake in Amanah Islamic bank

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s only Islamic bank has been placed on the auction block in a bid to broaden its ownership and financial expertise.

As part of its five-year rehabilitation program, a 49 percent stake Al Amanah Islamic and Investment Bank of the Philippines (Amanah Islamic Bank) will be offered to interested parties, particularly to existing Islam-oriented financial institutions.

The sale would open up the bank to capital from the Middle East as well as Southeast Asia investors. It would facilitate the entry of Islamic banking expertise and technology. (full story)