September 2011

Several Indian small and medium enterprises from the power, natural resources and oil & gas sectors are lining up to tap London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) to raise funds.

“Indian equity market is going through extreme volatile times, and fund raising has become very difficult. London’s AIM market offers a good opportunity for small and medium companies with sound business models to raise funds in less time compared with the 6-12 months required in the domestic market,” Nikhil Bahel, managing director of investment banking division at Religare Capital Markets, told Financial Chronicle.

In the recent past, companies such as Essar Energy, KSK Power Ventures, Greenko Group and Hirco Group successfully raised funds and got listed on AIM.

Link: http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/power-oil-gas-smes-eye-listing-aim-london-673

There is much excitement in the world of Islamic Finance as Central Bank of Oman has announced plans in May to allow Islamic banks to operate from Oman. Oman has been amongst the few countries in the Muslim world with a non-existent Islamic finance sector, as regulations have been slow to come by.

However, this is now expected to change very quickly with two banks: Bank Nizwa and Bank Al Izz have received Islamic banking licenses and reports of several conventional banks also considering opening Islamic banking windows.

Link: http://tilt.ft.com/#!posts/2011-09/29461/islamic-banks-open-oman-2012