AMANAHRAYA Investment Bank Ltd (ARIB) plans to issue a US$100 million (RM327 million) development fund in China by next year, its managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Mohamed Azahari Kamil said.
"It's a joint effort between AmanahRaya Investment Bank and a Korean investment bank. It should take off by early next year," he told reporters yesterday after the launch of AmanahRaya's Annual Report 2007 and the Safeena Islamic Marine Fund by Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop in Kuala Lumpur.
AmanahRaya, previously associated with mainly trustee and legal services, has widened its business to include estate management, property, investment and banking.
Mohamed Azahari said the two investment banks are studying whether the economic fundamentals are right to start raising the US$100 million fund in China, which will be used for property development in that country.
Prior to the launch of the Islamic Marine Fund, AmanahRaya had issued its first Islamic real estate investment trust (REIT) fund, which is already listed on Bursa Malaysia.
AmanahRaya also entered into a collaboration with Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) Bhd last year to launch a US dollar-denominated Islamic real estate fund, called Al-Nibras.
According to Mohamed Azahari, an Islamic green fund and an Islamic aviation fund are in the pipeline.
ARIB, which was granted its investment banking licence on December 29 2006, started operations in April last year.
It is a licensed offshore bank under the auspices of the Labuan Offshore Financial Services Authority, with a paid-up capital of US$2.82 million (RM9 million).
In the financial year ended December 2007, ARIB made a pre-tax profit of US$3.97 million (RM13 million). It had accumulated total assets of US$197 million (RM644 million) as at end-2007.
AmanahRaya, meanwhile, registered a pre-tax profit of RM128.3 million last year, up 212 per cent from RM41.2 million in 2006. Its RM263.3 million revenue was a 140 per cent jump from RM109.9 million in 2006.
Mohamed Azahari said the strong revenue and profit growth was contributed by the performance of its subsidiaries.
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