Asia Real Estate Investment & Financing Conference - Opportunities in the Shariah-Compliant Space

Halal Universe, or www.halal-u.com, an online news portal focused on Shariah-compliant investments, will be holding its inaugural regional conference on real estate investments in June.

To be held in Singapore, the conference entitled “Asia Real Estate Investment & Financing Conference 2013 - Opportunities in the Shariah-Compliant Space” will have speakers from Australia, the UK, Malaysia and Singapore.

The conference will be divided into several segments, one of which will look at the outlook for the Asian economies amidst the loose monetary policies in the United States, Japan and Europe and global funds’ renewed interest in the Asian real estate. Opportunities in the brick and mortar sector in Asia and the US, in the light of cooling measures in some countries, will also be explored. The third segment will be devoted to opportunities in listed Shariah-compliant real estate investment trusts (REITs) and REITs funds.

The gathering will also look into the development of and challenges in the Shariah-compliant real estate financing. Under this segment a panel will discuss the issues behind setting up a cooperative-based Shariah-compliant financing institution in countries with Muslim minorities like Singapore.

Keynote - Real Estate Investments from the Islamic Perspective by Sheikh Ahmad Muhammad Saad Ash-Shafi’ie Al-Azhari Al-Hasani.

About the speaker:

Born into a family of scholars, Sheikh Ahmad Muhammad Saad Ash-Shafi’ie Al-Azhari Al-Hasani, is also a descendant of our beloved Prophet Muhammad SAW. He spent almost 17 years of his life in the Al-Azhar system of schools where he obtained his B.A. Honours in Islamic Studies in English. Sheikh Saad led his first prayer at the age of 13 and delivered his first Khutbah at the age of 15. A former Imam of the North London Central Mosque, he toured the world - including to Canada, USA, Germany, Malaysia and Sweden - as an Imam, speaker and lecturer and is currently settled in the UK. He is the Founder and Director of the Ihsan Institute for Arabic & Islamic Studies.

Key Topic - The impact of loose monetary policies of the US, Japan and the EU on Asian economies and the implications for the region’s real estate by Mr Manu Bhaskaran.

About the speaker:

Mr Manu Bhaskaran, is a Founding Director and Chief Executive Officer of Centennial Asia Advisors, an independent research and advisory firm that works with governments, multilateral institutions, financial firms and leading MNCs. A Chartered Financial Analyst, Mr Bhaskaran holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Cambridge University.