UK - UK's Gatehouse plans $97 mln sukuk by end Q1 - CEO

Feb 27 (Reuters) - Gatehouse Bank, a London-based sharia compliant investment bank, plans to bring a 60 million pound ($96.77 million) Islamic bond to market by the end of the first quarter, its chief executive said on Sunday. (full story)

Richard Thomas, speaking on the sidelines of an Islamic forum in the United Arab Emirates' capital, said the bank would also arrange a 25 million pound syndicated lease financing this year.

Thomas declined to say who the sukuk was being arranged for, saying only that it was linked to an unidentified firm's "cash flow related to government contracts."

The sukuk is waiting for completion, he said, adding that the bank was "nearly there." He added that Gatehouse was also mulling the creation of a real estate investment trust and looking at opportunities in trade finance.

(Reporting by Shaheen Pasha; editing by Jane Merriman)

Source : http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/27/gatehouse-sukuk-idUSLDE71Q03N20110227 - Feb 27, 2011