Aug 27 2011 |
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Sovereign Sukuk great for Meezan's fortunes
By Shabbir Kazmi The fortunes of Pakistan's Meezan Bank are on an upward curve, if Muhammad Asad, executive vice president and chief investment officer of Al Meezan Investment Management is to be believed.The bank has seen a huge influx of funds this year, and Asad told The Islamic Globe that this has a lot to do with the Government of Pakistan's Sukuk program, which has enjoyed enormous local demand. He said: "Institutional investors have of late been making huge investments in our funds, and a lot of this is to do with Al Meezan emerging as one of the main investors in the sovereign Ijarah Sukuk issued by GoP."
Currently Al Meezan has some PKR30bn ($349m) of assets under management out of a total market of PKR280bn ($3.26bn), making it Pakistan's largest private sector asset management company. The GoP manages the lion's share of Shari'ah compliant assets in Pakistan.
The Sukuk also enjoyed high levels of demand because, "they are tradable and offer competitive returns to the investors," Asad said.
The latest fund floated in partnership with Meezan Bank is the Al Meezan Capital Protected Fund-II. It's a closed ended fund following in the steps of the well-received Al Meezan Capital Protected Fund-I, which has been one of Pakistan's top performing since inception in 2008.
© The Islamic Globe 2011
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