RIYADH (Reuters) - Al Rajhi Capital, the investment banking arm of the biggest Saudi Islamic lender, Al Rajhi 1120.SE, is arranging two large Islamic bonds, or sukuk, for Saudi firms, executives said on Monday.
"We have two mandates at this stage right now," said Joseph Rodriguez, managing director of the leveraged finance unit, declining to identify the firms or sectors.
"It's big," he told the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit when asked about the volume. The brokerage was also marketing 8-10 potential sukuk mandates.
Al Rajhi Capital, previously known as Al Rajhi Financial Services, plans to launch a fund for secondary sukuk or other Islamic financing tools as part of plans to boost its asset management arm, said Gaurav Shah, head of asset management.
"Asset management is really becoming a core business for us," Shah said, adding that its managed assets now amounted to 7.5 billion ($2 billion).
Chief Executive Officer Marcus Andrade said the investment bank is targeting 15-20 percent of all deposits at Saudi banks under management in five years.
Other areas were retail, private equity, equity research, arranging reschedulings for firms running into trouble and for project financing.
The broker was offering research for Saudi stocks and would later expand to the Gulf and Middle Eastern companies.
(Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Editing by John Irish, John Stonestreet)
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