Azimut and Maybank to jointly manage sukuk fund, seek new markets

Nov 15: Italian money manager Azimut Holding SpA will jointly manage its Islamic bonds fund with Maybank Asset Management Group to cater to growing demand for hard currency sukuk products, the two firms said on Tuesday. The partnership will allow the fund to penetrate new markets including Malaysia and Singapore, where Maybank Asset Management already operates, the firms said in a joint statement. 

Azimut, through its wholly-owned Turkish asset management arm, launched its global sukuk fund in 2013 which has over $130 million in assets. Maybank Asset Management launched a U.S. dollar-denominated sukuk fund of its own in 2014. Sukuk funds remain tiny compared to their conventional fixed-income counterparts, but the sukuk market has widened in recent years thanks to an increasing number of issuers and investors. Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain and Malaysia are among the sovereigns that have issued dollar-denominated sukuk in the past year. (Reporting by Bernardo Vizcaino; Editing by Eric Meijer)

SOURCE: Reuters/15 Nov 2016