Dubai-based mortgage lender Tamweel plans to sell bonds and shares to the public as it expands overseas this year, its chief executive officer said in remarks published on Sunday.

Tamweel, which operates according to Islamic law, will apply for licences in two countries this year where it hopes to open in 2009, Adel al-Shirawi said, according to daily Emirates Business.

The mortgage financer won licences to operate in Saudi Arabia and Egypt in 2007.

"Apart from the markets in the GCC and Middle East within the next five years we will be tapping southeast Asia and subcontinent," Shirawi is quoted as saying.

"Our main source of funding will be IPOs, injection by shareholders and ...securitisation," he said.

The bank, which sold $300 million Islamic bonds, or sukuk, in December, will sell more bonds this year to help finance expansion, he said, without giving details.

It also plans to sell shares to the public through initial public offerings of units, Shirawi said. - Reuters