The partnership will mean that investors into the Crescent Islamic Cash Management Fund will gain exposure to the $150bn global market for Shariah-compliant bonds or Sukuk as they are known. Sukuk generate ethical returns backed by real assets. The portfolio will be managed by BLME, teh largest Islamic bank in Europe and a leading global provider of Shariah-compliant fixed income products.
Nigel Denison, head of wealth management at BLME, said: “Recently we have seen increased demand from international investors for Sukuk because of good credit performance that has proven Sukuk to be resilient to the global economic downturn.
“The strong performance of our fixed income products has been supported by a buoyant Sukuk market with 2012 looking to be a record year both in terms of our product performance and for the Sukuk market overall.”]
Established in 2010, Crescent Wealth has launched an Australian equities fund and a cash management fund and said an international equities fund and property fund will be launched later this year.