Dh2.4bn Reits to be issued by property firms
Two UAE-based property firms plan to issue Islamic real estate investment trusts (Reits) this year with an estimated value of two billion Malaysian ringgits (Dh2.4 billion), newswire reports said quoting Malaysian stock exchange official.
Raja Teh Maimunah, global head of Islamic markets at Bursa Malaysia, told Bloomberg News that a Dubai firm has submitted a formal application to Malaysian authorities to issue ringgit-denominated sukuk locally.
She declined to give further more details.
Last week, Gulf Investment Corp., the investment company owned by the six Gulf Cooperation Council states, sold 600 million ringgit of Islamic bonds in January.
The companies will be the first from the Arabian Gulf to sell Islamic REITs in the Southeast Asian nation. The portfolio of properties include residential and commercial real estate in the UAE, she said.
Bursa Malaysia manages the country's stock and bond exchanges.
Malaysia is attracting overseas investors from the Middle East as the political turmoil in the region boosts appetite for assets in the world's biggest market for sukuk, or Shariah-compliant bonds.
"Liquidity becomes a challenge for them after the global financial crisis and so they're looking at our market," Raja Teh told Bloomberg.
© Emirates 24|7 2011
