Tamweel eyes India, Morocco, Turkey expansion

By Thomas Atkins

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Dubai-based Islamic mortgage lender Tamweel TAML.DU said it plans to expand into India, Morocco and Turkey, and expects to turn a profit from Egyptian and Saudi operations next year.

"In Egypt and Saudi Arabia, it is all approved and we are just setting up," Chief Executive Officer Adel al-Shirawi told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in the Davos ski resort. "We will start to earn there in 2009."

To fund its rapid expansion, Al Shirawi said the firm aimed to raise capital by all means possible, including debt, issuing sukuk or Islamic bonds, and through the listing of its local units.

"We will keep a majority stake," he said. "(We) will diversify risk through regionalization but will remain focused on mortgages."

He also aims to securitize portions of the group's mortgage book once it grows further, possibly as soon as 2009, he said.

"We've been doubling it every year so why should we stop?" he said. "If you more than double it, you're going to get into a non-quality book."

Tamweel recently sold $300 million in convertible Islamic bonds, or sukuk, which comply with Islam's ban on interest and offer investors a share of profits from underlying assets instead.

Larger rival Amlak Finance AMLK.DU delayed a sale of Islamic bonds planned for the fourth quarter because of the fallout from the credit crisis triggered by U.S. mortgage defaults.