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Article: SEEKING PENSION MONEY: Mutual fund family follows Islamic law.(Alfanar Investment Holdings NV)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
- Article from:
- Pensions & Investments
- Article date:
- October 30, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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NEW YORK - Islamic investment guidelines are some of the strictest in the world. Not only do they exclude the typical ``sin'' investments such as alcohol, tobacco and gambling, but Islam also prohibits earning interest. This means that companies invested according to Islamic Shariah law cannot have interest-bearing debt equal to or greater than 33.3% of their total assets.
But a family of mutual funds that invests according to Shariah guidelines has had strong performance, even in the difficult markets of this year. Alfanar Investment Holdings - a joint venture formed in 1997 by Permal Asset Management, New York, and the Saudi Economic & Development Co. - now has ...