Swiss-based Faisal Private Bank, Bahrain-based Shamil Bank and Sharjah Islamic Bank have launched a EUR150m Sharia-compliant Central and Eastern European Real Estate Fund, which takes diversified exposure on development and income-generating real estate assets in Central and Eastern Europe and has a term of five years.

Faisal Private Bank is the investment advisor of the fund, Sharjah Islamic Bank the lead sponsor, and Shamil Bank the sub-advisor and co-sponsor.

'We are very pleased with the response of the Bahrain market to this fund, which is aimed at an informed and sophisticated investor-base with very particular demands and interests,' says Giovanni Perin, head of investment banking at Faisal Private Bank, following a roadshow in the Gulf kingdom. 'We have also been contacted by investors elsewhere in the region and expect a similar level of interest when we visit Oman and the United Arab Emirates.'

Saeed M. Al Amiri, head of the investment group at Sharjah Islamic Bank, adds: 'Following its own due diligence study, Sharjah Islamic Bank opted to invest in this fund, which presents investors with a very interesting long-term opportunity to enter a fast-growing sector, in a part of the world that is experiencing rapid economic growth. We are confident it will attract further interest from institutional investors across the region.'

According to the fund's promoters, countries in Central and Eastern European have seen inward investment flows to various sectors of the economy exhibit a demonstrable impact on their real estate sectors. The core investment markets for the fund are Romania, Bulgaria and Poland, while other markets will include the Czech Republic, Croatia and Ukraine.