INDONESIA - BANKING - Al Baraka eyes more growth, Indonesia buy

www.tradearabia.com - Bahraini Islamic lender Al Baraka Banking Group aims for 15 per cent growth in net profit this year and plans to buy a 75 per cent stake in an unlisted Indonesian bank as part of its global expansion plan.

'We are in talks with Chinese shareholders of an Indonesian bank and hope to buy close to 75 per cent stake this year,' Adnan Ahmed Yousif, Al Baraka's chief executive, told Reuters in an interview.

'Our plan is to invest around $100 million in this deal,' he said, noting that the targeted bank, which he declined to name, is a conventional lender that will eventually be converted to Islamic.  (source)

WORLD - FIQH - New report on Shariah scholars released

www.tradearabia.com - Failaka Advisors, in partnership with Paris-based Grapes Market Research & Advisory, has released the second edition of The Shariah Report.

The 2012 version of the report is the world's first comprehensive report on Shariah scholars, with detailed profiles of more than 120 of the top scholars in the Middle East and from around the globe highlighting Islamic Finance’s global reach.

“Spanning from East to West, the report profiles Shariah scholars from Asia, Middle East, Africa, Europe and North America, providing insight into the depth and breadth of the industry”, said Anne-Sophie Gintzburger, founding director at Grapes.  (source)

SINGAPORE - Islamic Bank of Asia focus on Gulf investors

The Islamic Bank of Asia, which is backed by Southeast Asia's top bank DBS, will focus on courting Gulf wealth and growing Islamic bonds, private equity and REIT deals to drive its business, its chief executive said.
The lender has struggled to compete against other Islamic banks in the region since its establishment in 2007 due to tough market conditions in the Middle East and a lack of interest in sharia banking in Singapore.

Toby O'Connor, Islamic Bank of Asia's chief executive, said the lender would be a channel for Middle Eastern investors seeking exposure to Asia.

'A lot of the GCC countries where we're primarily focused do not have large populations, with the exception of Saudi,' said O'Connor, who joined the Singapore bank last month after 19 years at JP Morgan. (source)

FINANCE - STC Indonesia unit secures $1.2bn funding

Saudi Telecom Company (STC), said its Indonesian unit Axis has secured $1.2 billion in financing to help fund its expansion and growth strategies for the next five years.

The finance deal, with a tenor of seven and a half years, involves several local and international financial institutions and all facilities have been structured in a sharia-compliant manner, said a STC statement. (full story - trade arabia)