Bahrain-based Islamic lender Alkhair said its Istanbul Fund has topped the rankings with annualized returns of 23.22 per cent to the end of May.

The ranking was given by Eurekahedge, the world's largest alternative investment funds research house specializing in hedge fund databases.

The expert said that the performance of the fund launched by Alkhair Portfoy Turkey, a subsidiary of Alkhair, was ahead of approximately 600 competing global Islamic mutual funds.

Alkhair Portfoy Turkey said the fund's year-to-date return was 12.5 per cent.

Commenting on the performance, Ali Ilhan, the general manager of Istanbul-based Alkhair Portfoy Turkey, said: "We are very proud to have achieved this ranking acknowledging the excellent performance we have achieved for our investors. Our business in Turkey continues to expand in line with our business plan which provides our clients a full range of offerings to take advantage of the high growth being realized in the Turkish market."

Yousef Al-Shelash, the chairman of Bank Alkhair, said: "This ranking for our Istanbul Fund, ahead of some 600 Islamic funds globally, is another example of how the Bank’s refocused business model is achieving its objectives for investors."

Al-Shelash was recently recognized for his outstanding role in many regional and international institutions and featured as one of the World's 100 Most Powerful Arabs by Arabian Business.

"This achievement confirms that we have the right approach and the right people in Bank Alkhair and we expect to have more good news to share as the year progresses," he added.-TradeArabia News Service