ALAMI, a licensed Shariah fintech peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform in Indonesia, announced the successful closure of over USD 20 million in equity and debt funding.  The Series A equity funding round was co-led by AC Ventures and Golden Gate Ventures, with other investors, including Quona Capital also participating. The USD 20 million in debt was secured via an undisclosed international impact fund with a focus on the healthcare industry in emerging markets.  ALAMI, which caters to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), provides accessibility to...

Malaysian-based microLEAP, a peer-to-peer (P2P) financing platform launched in 2018, announced its completion of a new financing round, through which it has successfully raised over MYR 13.25 million. Its previous round of seed funding was in 2020 where microLEAP raised MYR 2 million from the Malaysian Technology Development Corporation. The funds, which were raised from Malaysian investment-holding company MAA Group, include MYR 1.25 million via equity and MYR 2 million in advances, both of which will go towards advertising, promotional expe...

United Arab Emirates (UAE) Energy Minister, Suhail al-Mazrouei has expressed optimism that global oil demand will return to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels by the end of 2021, or early 2022, according to local media reports.  Speaking at the Gulf Intelligence Global UAE Energy Forum on the 13th of January 2021, al-Mazrouei noted that he was confident that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its oil producing allies (OPEC+) Group would continue to ensure that the market was balanced faster than expected. Al-Mazrouei added that th...

The Government of Indonesia has forecast nearly 4% growth of the manufacturing sector in 2021, following a slump in 2020, as the country prepares for its COVID-19 vaccination programme, according to media reports.  Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, Minister of Industry, stated that the positive outlook of the manufacturing industry was based on increased investment as well as promising export figures despite the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacting the industry in 2020. Agus noted that all manufacturing subsectors were anticipated to grow, provided that the pande...

The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), member of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, is to provide Egypt with USD 1.1 billion worth of financing solutions in 2021, according to local media reports.  Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development and Egypt’s Governor at the ITFC, along with Egypt’s ministers of international cooperation, petroleum and mineral resources, supply and internal trade, industry and trade, witnessed the signing of the ITFC financing programme for Egypt on the 13th of January...

Based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Al Mal Capital has received USD 95.3 million from the initial public offering (IPO) of its real estate investment trust (REIT). Following the IPO, Al Mal Capital’s property fund will be listed on the Dubai Financial Market on the 21st of January 2021. According to a statement issued by the firm, the money raised will be used by Al Mal Capital to invest in a variety of income-generating assets, along with additional capital raised via Shariah-compliant financing from domestic banks.  The stateme...

RAM Rating Services (RAM) has reaffirmed the AAA(bg)/Stable rating of EKVE Sdn Bhd’s (EKVESB) Guaranteed Sukuk Murabahah Facility of up to MYR 1 billion in nominal value. EKVESB is a Malaysian concessionaire for the East Klang Valley Expressway (the Expressway), which is a 36.16 km closed-toll system, which is pursuant to a 50-year concession agreement with the Government of Malaysia.  The rating reflects the conditional guarantee extended by Maybank Islamic and Bank Pembangunan Malaysia, which are AAA-rated, according to...

Oman’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) has approved the main prospectus of the issuance of OMR 25 million perpetual Sukuk Mudharabah by Takaful Sukuk Special Purpose Company (Takaful Sukuk SPC) in favour of Takaful Oman Insurance (Takaful Oman), according to local media reports.  In addition, the prospectus of the first issuance of the perpetual Sukuk programme for the offering of OMR 6 million in private placement at an issue price of OMR 1.020 comprising of OMR 1 as nominal value and 20 Biasas for issue costs has been approved by the CMA. The minimum limi...

Malaysian analysts have estimated that the second round of the movement control order (MCO 2.0) to be implemented from the 13th to 26th of January 2021 will lower the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth by 0.7 to 0.9 percentage points (ppt) in 2021, according to local media reports.  According to MIDF Research, the impact of the two-week MCO 2.0 in five states (Selangor, Penang, Johor, Melaka and Sabah) and federal territories (Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur and Labuan), as well as the conditional MCO (CMCO) implemented in six other states could slow GDP growth b...

The Government of Indonesia has raised IDR 11.3 trillion from the first edition of its biweekly auction of State Shariah Securities (SBSN), also referred to as State Sukuk, in 2021. The auction was conducted via Bank Indonesia acting as the SBSN Auction Agent on the 12th of January 2021 and raised less than the targeted amount of IDR 14 trillion.    According to a statement issued by the Directorate General of Budget Financing and Risk Management (DJPPR), Ministry of Finance, the total incoming bids received from the State Sukuk auction for t...