Albaraka Turk Plans to Raise as Much as $750 Million in 2012

Albaraka Turk Katilim Bankasi AS (ALBRK), the Turkish unit of Bahrain’s AlBaraka Banking Group (BARKA), plans to raise as much as $750 million through syndicated financing and an Islamic bond sale this year, the group chief executive said.

The bank may raise between $400 million and $500 million from a so-called syndicated murabaha facility next week, CEO Adnan Yousif said in a telephone interview late yesterday from Alexandria, Egypt. The financing will mostly be in dollars, with some in euros, he said. The bank also plans to raise as much as $250 million from the sale of 7-year Islamic bonds this year.

Albaraka Turk’s second-quarter profit surged 58 percent to 46.8 million liras ($26 million), beating the 40.5 million lira average estimate of four analysts. The bank has $331 million of debt due in September, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Islamic law forbids the payment of interest, so banks use facilities such as murabaha, where lenders buy an asset on behalf of the customer and sell it back at a profit.

Islamic bonds, or sukuk, pay returns on assets to comply with Islam’s ban on interest.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dana El Baltaji in Dubai at delbaltaji@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net