Amyal Islamic Leasing Fund, which was launched by Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) recently, has received positive response from investors and may be closed before the end of the offering period of September 1.

Amyal is a feeder investment into Millennium Aircraft Leasing Company (MALC) which is a limited liability company incorporated in the Bahamas by Kuwait Finance House (KFH). MALC purchases new and used aircrafts which are leased to different airline companies. Since its formation, MALC has purchased 15 aircrafts which have been leased to reputable regional and international airlines under separate lease agreements with different lease terms.

Amyal’s targeted size is US$20mn, which is expected to be raised within the offering period, which started August 2. However, this offering period may be shortened or extended at the discretion of the bank. Subscriptions are open for UAE nationals, expatriate residents of the UAE as well as institutions based in the UAE.

The investment period of the fund is expected to be about four years, during which returns between 7-8% per year are expected to be distributed to investors on a quarterly basis.

Hussein Al Qemzi, SIB’s CEO notes that the fund comes in line with the bank’s commitment to continue providing value-adding investment products for the bank’s clients and general public. He also mentions that this was in line with the bank’s intention to enhance its relationship with KFH as an important strategic partner.

Meanwhile, Nathif Adam, head of investments at SIB notes that “we will continue to build momentum in these kinds of transactions due to their ability to offer risk sharing and investment diversification possibilities for our client base”.
This fund comes at the heels of Tharwa Islamic Equity Portfolio, which the bank launched in June and which closed oversubscribed during July this year.