Gulf Finance House restructures debt; Warde on Islamic finance in the U.S.

Gulf Finance House repaid $200 million of its maturing $300 million debt facility after reaching an agreement with its creditors to defer the remaining $100 million for six months under a new murabaha agreement. The Islamic investment bank has another $50 million maturing on March 3 that is also expected to be delayed. The company saw its credit rating cut to selective default (SD) on the announcement.

Ibrahim Warde suggests that Islamic finance could be beneficial for the United States by creating new financial institutions and demonstrating that the U.S. is interested in "promoting a new era of equal economic prosperity and opportunity for Muslims here and abroad".

Other News

• The sixth monthly issue of the Opalesque Islamic Finance Intelligence is now available. It is a good read, as always.
  
• Amlak is "hopeful" that the UAE federal government will approve its merger with Tamweel.
  
• The Saudi firm Dar Al Arkan will raise $750 million in sukuk, although as other news stories (linked to on Monday's post) note, the uptake has been weak.
  
• Korea Investment & Securities Co says that South Korea needs Islamic finance to curb its trade deficit. The firm recently hired Shari'ah scholar Mohammed Daud Bakar to "help it structure Islamic financial products".
  
• Kuwaiti Islamic bank, Boubyan Bank had only received subscriptions for 85% of its rights issue and said its board would recommend reopening the issue.
  
• Dubai Islamic Bank postponed its board meeting to discuss a wakala arrangement using funds from the UAE ministry of finance.
  
• Indonesian takaful growth will slow to 30%.