Bahrain's Al Baraka Banking Group will open the initial public offering of its Syrian affiliate in October and expects full-year profit to be similar to 2008, bank executives said. Speaking to Reuters late on Wednesday at its annual general meeting in Jeddah, chief executive Adnan Ahmed Yousif said Bahrain's largest Islamic bank by market value said net profit would be close to “what we have already disclosed in 2008.” The bank said profit in the second quarter fell 16.6 percent year on year to $49 million, citing the challenging economic environment. It posted a $113.7 million profit in 2008, according to Reuters data. Mamoun Darkazally, general manager of Al Baraka's Syrian affiliate told Reuters an IPO in Syria would open on Oct. 4 and run for a month. “We have to raise $35 million, which is 35 percent of the capital, and it has to be sold for Syrians only,” Darkazally said, adding that the bank plans to start operations in January 2010 with a capital of $100 million. Bank Bemo Saudi Fransi is managing the sale. Emirates Islamic Bank has a 10 percent stake in Al Baraka's Syrian unit. The Syrian unit of Qatar National Bank (QNB) said on Aug. 15 a 1.7 billion Syrian pounds ($36.9 million) initial public offering was oversubscribed 1.7 times. Plans for a $10 billion Islamic bank, initiated by Al Baraka's chairman, Sheikh Saleh Kamel are in the final stages and an IPO is planned by the second quarter of 2010, said Yousif, who is advising on the project. “The private placement (will be closed) either at the end of the year or the first quarter of 2010,” he said.
