Shamil Bank announces launch of Shamil Bosphorus Modaraba

As is customary for all the Modarabas the bank launches, Shamil Bank will be subscribing up to 10 per cent of the commitment as a vote of confidence.

The Modaraba will have an investment term of three years and will target residential and mixed-use real estate development in Istanbul, and secondary homes on the Turkish coast of Turkey. The aggregate commitment of the Modaraba will be called in tranches with the first tranche being used for the acquisition a plot of land on the European side of Istanbul in the district of Beylikduzu.

The land plot exceeding an area of 40,000 sq.m. would be developed as a mixed use retail and residential complex. The remaining tranches will be called as and when needed before the end of June 2008 to secure the acquisition and developments of other projects already in the pipeline.

The pipeline encompasses diverse residential projects in Istanbul ranging from luxury villas overlooking the Bosphorus to middle income apartments, as well as holiday homes in resort style residential developments on the sea coast of Antalya in southern Turkey.

'Shamil Bank is constantly on the lookout for interesting investment opportunities, especially in promising emerging markets like Turkey. We have invested in China before and intend to launch a similar Modaraba focusing on the real estate sector in Eastern Europe soon.' said Mr. Mohamed Hussain, Chief Executive of Shamil Bank.

'Over the last five years Turkey has experienced substantial growth following its recovery from the 2001 economic crisis. On average, Turkey has had a gross domestic product growth of 7.3% from 2002 to 2006,' he added.

'Turkey has enjoyed a sustainable economic and political stability over the past few years and the Government that was in place before has been re-elected in 2007 by the Turkish people who have truly enjoyed this period of stability and growth,' explained Ahmad Tayara, Head of Investment Banking at Shamil Bank.

We have been studying the Turkish market for a year now and have appointed top notch real estate experts, law firms, tax consultants in order to provide our investors with a solid product. We have carefully chosen the local partners prior to arranging for the Modaraba to invest in their projects. We have also fine-tuned our investment philosophy in terms of funding drawdown to optimize the return of investors. For this Modaraba, we are projecting a return on investment of close to 60% over the investment term based on a conservative mix of assets catering for different market niches, activities, and geography' added Mr. Tayara.