Central and Eastern European Real Estate Fund a hit with investors

Notes and media contacts

For further information please contact:
Tariq Khonji, Assistant Director- PR and Corporate Communications, Ithmaar Bank on +973 39901721

About Shamil Bank
Shamil Bank is a Bahrain-based Islamic retail bank licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain, with commercial and investment banking activities. It has grown steadily to become one of Bahrain's leading financial institutions.

Shamil Bank provides a diverse range of products and services that cater to the financing and investment needs of individuals and institutions. Conducting its business in compliance with the principles of Sharia'a, it operates a network of local branches and maintains a presence in overseas markets through its subsidiaries, associated and affiliated companies.

Shamil Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ithmaar Bank BSC, a full service investment bank.

About Faisal Private Bank:
Faisal Private Bank is the first Swiss Private Bank exclusively dedicated to innovative wealth and asset management in accordance with the principles of Islamic finance.

Founded in 1982 in Geneva, then-Faisal Finance was born of an innovative vision of asset management consisting of successfully marrying ethical values of Islamic finance with the traditional Swiss banking model. For more than twenty years, the company has built a large international and local client base in both private and institutional sectors.

Geneva lies at the crossroads of Europe and is the world capital of wealth management. Faisal Private Bank developed holistically, taking advantage of Switzerland's exceptional climate of social stability and actively participating in the rapid development of Geneva's financial hub.

About Sharjah Islamic Bank:
Sharjah Islamic Bank is one of the UAE's leading financial institutions, and it is Sharjah's largest bank. Established in 1975, SIB formerly known as National Bank of Sharjah, was converted to a fully fledged Islamic bank in 2002. The bank is majority owned by the Government of Sharjah and is listed on Abu Dhabi Securities Market.

The bank has established a strong presence across the UAE, with 20 branches, and it provides a range of Islamic Sharia compliant retail, commercial, corporate, investment and international banking products.

In March 2008, the bank increased its paid-up capital by 100 per cent, from $299m to $599m. Its total asset size now stands at $3.2bn.
The bank is rated BBB (Investment Grade) by Standard & Poor's (S&P) and BBB+ by Capital Intelligence (CI)

The bank's subsidiaries includes Sharjah National Hotels, Sharjah Islamic Financial Services and ASAS Real Estate company.

About Ithmaar banking group
The Ithmaar banking group consists of: Ithmaar Bank, Shamil Bank, Solidarity (an Islamic insurance company), Faisal Private Bank (Switzerland), Faysal Bank Limited (Pakistan), First Leasing Bank and Ithmaar Development Company. The group's services, including investment, private, retail, and commercial banking, private equity, mergers & acquisition advice, takaful, leasing, and real estate development, form a 360 degrees value chain that embraces the entire spectrum of banking and financial services.