Business
Emirates Islamic successfully closes US$ 500 million Sukuk issuance.
Emirates Islamic, one of the principal Islamic financial institutions in the UAE and rated A+ (stable) by Fitch, has triumphantly ended the issuance of a US$ 500 million 5-year Sukuk from its US$ 2.5 billion Certificate Issuance Programme.
The renowned issuance rated A+ by Fitch will be posted on NASDAQ Dubai and Euronext Dublin. Investors showed powerful desire which finished in an order book of USD$ 1.2 billion which was roughly 2.4 times issuance size with a profit rate of 1.827%, the below achieved by a UAE bank in the last ten years.
The investor base was expanded geographically, with 41% placed into the Middle East and North Africa, 28% allocated to Asia, 17% to US offshore investors and 14% into Europe. The completion of this transaction, in an exceptionally busy period of GCC fixed-income financing, repeats the Banks strong interest to investors.
Bank ABC, Citigroup, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank and The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector served as Joint Lead Managers and Bookrunners for the transaction.
Salah Amin, Chief Executive Officer, Emirates Islamiccommented: We are greatly proud that the Sukuk issuance has been oversubscribed reaffirming great investor confidence in Emirates Islamics fundamentals and growth story. We are satisfied with the amazing response from both regional and global investors which is a positive endorsement of the Bank credit strength and investor proposition.