Morley, a UK property fund manager, has increased its European capability with three hires and one internal reshuffle. Andreas von Gossler joins as head of acquisitions for the European property fund. Previously he was a fund manager at the German real estate group Union Investment. Lorenzo Segre, comes from Italy’s Pirelli Real Estate, and will become a manager on the Morley European fund. Also joining is analyst Matthew Hills who comes from HDG Mansur Investment Services, a US property group that specialises in Islamic Shariah-compliant products. All three report to Julian Taylor, lead manager of the European fund.

Since the turn of the decade the region’s property market has seen spectacular growth. Now the infrastructure is catching up, giving entrepreneurs greater confidence in the market’s long-term health. Nigel Dudley reports.

Dubai Islamic Bank has opened a new real estate office in Sharjah, one of the northern emirates in the UAE, on February 28. The office aims to provide commercial real estate finance services and products such as murabaha (property purchase finance), istisnaa (construction finance) and musharaka (cash against property finance). Sharjah is the bank’s second office to open since the end of last year following the real estate finance department’s first branch inauguration at the Dubai Land Department.

"Islamic finance has only popped up onto people’s radar screens in the West in the last five years or so," says Jeremy Beswick, head of asset management at European Islamic Investment Bank (EIIB). Despite its youth, though, Islamic financing is spreading around the globe and in recent months there has been a rapid increase in the range of real-estate-related products that banks have to offer.

Real estate convertibles are the hot ticket

Iran banks rebuff US charges

Lebanese banks have maintained a comfortable financial position despite last year’s Israeli attack and a continuing stand-off between Hizbollah and the government. However, the macroeconomic situation is far from rosy, not least because the country has the world’s highest debt-to-GDP ratio. James Drummond reports from Beirut.

Aston Martin announced the start of a new chapter in its financing history as the sports car manufacturer agreed its leveraged buyout to a consortium of investors led by sports car veteran David Richards.

European demand drives up volume of issuance.

In the our last issue in the Islamic finance awards section we incorrectly stated that Dubai International Bank had won the best Islamic bank in the Middle East award. It was in fact Dubai Islamic Bank.

Aeon Credit Service, a credit card issuer, became the first Japanese company to tap into the growing market for Shariah-compliant debt when it began issuing under an agreement signed with joint lead arrangers, managers and bookrunners Aseambankers Malaysia, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and CIMB Investment Bank.

On January 30, the leading names in the Islamic finance industry gathered at the Royal Garden Hotel in London for Euromoney’s fifth annual Islamic Finance Awards dinner.

Best in Islamic finance: Pushing beyond the boundaries

Modern Islamic finance has a history stretching back more than three decades. But many bankers believe 2006 will prove to be the breakout year in its evolution – when a niche play finally went mainstream. The stigma that Islamic financial products struggled to overcome – they were once seen as instruments suited only to Muslims' religious beliefs – has been shed as banks proffer an ever more sophisticated array of Sharia-compliant products to a market whose appetite shows few signs of abating.

Oil keeps recovery in Arab banking on track

Despite facing fierce competition from such rivals as BNP Paribas, Citigroup, HSBC and UBS, Deutsche Bank emerged victorious in the race to secure the award for best structured product house in the Islamic finance market. Thanks to the extensive conceptual groundwork the German bank laid in 2005, in 2006 it was able to take full advantage of the explosive growth in the structured products segment of the Islamic finance market and offer a wide range of instruments spanning different asset classes and regions.

Pushing beyond the boundaries

Pushing beyond the boundaries

Gulf institutions maintain their dominance of Euromoney’s rankings as growth continues for third successive year. Morris Helal reports.

Pushing beyond the boundaries

Pushing beyond the boundaries

Pushing beyond the boundaries

Pushing beyond the boundaries

Pushing beyond the boundaries

Pushing beyond the boundaries

Pushing beyond the boundaries

Pushing beyond the boundaries

Pushing beyond the boundaries

Pushing beyond the boundaries

Pushing beyond the boundaries