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Hogan Lovells has advised Aktif Bank on the first Sukuk ever to be listed on the Global Exchange Market of the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE). The $118million Sukuk was issued under a mudarabah structure with GAP Insaat Yatirim ve D?s Ticaret, a Turkish construction company. While the Irish Stock Exchange has listed Sukuk historically, this is the first Sukuk to be listed on the ISE's Global Exchange Market. The Hogan Lovells team was led by Imran Mufti (Partner, Dubai), with support from Annalisa Feliciani (Counsel, Rome), Ahmet Kalafat (Senior Associate, Dubai) and trainees Marjun Parcasio and Luigi de Angelis. Onur Aksoy from Aktif Bank said this Sukuk represents a milestone for Islamic capital markets originating out of Turkey. He added that Aktif Bank was pleased to work with the Hogan Lovells team, benefitting from their deep understanding of Islamic finance and capital markets.

United Arab Emirates' energy producer Dana Gas has started refinancing discussions with the holders of its $700 million sukuk maturing in October 2017. The company has faced a cash shortage in the last period and is now planning to restructure its dollar sukuk which was issued in May 2013. Dana Gas CEO Patrick Allman-Ward refused to comment. The energy producer in April repaid an outstanding $60 million loan for its Zora gas field project in the UAE to avoid a breach on the facility. Dana is owed receivables of about $1 billion from Egypt and the Kurdistan Regional Government. Its cash balance as of the end of March was $298 million, slightly below $302 million as of the end of last year. To focus on cash preservation, the company reduced its operational and capital spending in the first quarter.

The government of Tunisia is preparing its first ever issuance of a sukuk with the Tunisian stock exchange, Bourse de Tunis and Nasdaq Dubai. Preparation work will consider commercial, legal and regulatory issues, including sharia-compliance aspects. This January finance minister Lamia Zribi said that Tunisia needs about $2.85 billion in external funding in 2017 and plans to issue a sukuk of $500 million to cover its budget deficit. Then in February the North African country issued a €850 million bond with a seven-year maturity.

The Government of Dubai has announced that the $600 million (Dh2.2 billion) Sukuk Trust Certificates issued on May 2, 2012 reached maturity on May 2, 2017. Upon maturity, all the certificates were redeemed in full along with the accrued profit. According to Abdul Rahman Saleh Al Saleh, Director-General of the Department of Finance, this settlement reaffirms the government’s commitment to deal with its repayment obligations in a proactive manner. It also strengthens the government’s resolve to honour all its financial obligations on time.

#UAE-based airline Etihad Airways tapped the Islamic finance market with the largest ever sukuk issuance in the MENA region’s aviation history. In November 2016, Etihad Airways made its debut on the debt capital markets with a benchmark US$1.5bn sukuk deal. Etihad was initially rumoured to be raising US$500mn, but there was strong demand and the company’s debut US$1.5bn sukuk became the highest rated paper from an airline issuer. The book consisted of high-quality investors from the MENA region, Asia and Europe, creating significant price tension that enabled Etihad to optimize pricing and issue size. Banks dominated the distribution cross-section (77%), while 13% of the notes were allocated to fund managers, 5% to private banks, 4% to insurance and pension funds, 1% to other investors. The 5-year sukuk was launched under the newly established Islamic Trust Certificate (Sukuk) programme and represented a landmark debt capital market transaction.

According to RAM Ratings, global sukuk issuance reached US$22.2 billion (US$1=RM4.33) at the end of March, a marginal decrease from US$24.1bil recorded in the same period last year. Malaysia maintained its leadership by accounting for 38.5% of the total issuance. The ratings agency said Indonesia was next (24.7%) followed by Qatar (9.9%) and the United Arab Emirates (9%). The outstanding global sukuk summed up to US$346.7bil, as at end-March 2017, with Malaysia maintaining its leadership by commanding 48% of the amount. Ruslena Ramli, Head of Islamic Finance at RAM Ratings, said that other Gulf Cooperation Council nations are expected to include sukuk issuance as a debt management strategy. On the domestic front, outstanding Malaysian sukuk expanded 11.5%,year-on-year, to RM691.4bil, as at end-March 2017, from RM620.1bil recorded in the same period last year.

State-controlled utility Saudi Electricity is in talks with regional and international banks about issuing a US dollar-denominated sukuk. A number of companies in the kingdom are considering sukuk issuance to offset a decline in revenues due to lower oil prices. Oil giant Saudi Aramco issued a debut $3 billion-equivalent sukuk in the Saudi local market in April, while ACWA Power is expected to issue an international bond of at least $600 million this week. Saudi Electricity issued $2.5 billion in sukuk in 2014, split between a $1.5 billion sukuk maturing in 2024 and $1 billion due in 2044. The company recently repaid a $500 million five-year sukuk it issued in 2012.

Boeing Capital is exploring opportunities for Islamic finance in the aviation sector and the possibility of including aircraft finance in the Islamic sukuk market. This way, an aircraft finance portfolio would be secured by an instrument known as the Enhanced Equipment Trust Certificate. Since 2006, Boeing Capital has hosted annual airline planning seminars for financiers in the Middle East. Emirates Airlines has issued sukuk most recently in 2015 compromising of a 10 year sukuk for the value of $913 million. Guaranteed by the UK Government, the sukuk was priced on 25 March at 2.471%. Emirates also issued in 2013 a $1 billion sukuk 10 year sukuk which was priced at 3.875%. Ethihad Airlines issued a sukuk in November 2016 for $1.5 billion which was priced at 3.86%.

Discussion about sukuk bonds is on the increase. The government of Malta has also considered issuing this type of security. Meanwhile, many established players on the international capital markets are issuing sukuks. A sukuk has a secondary market in the same way as a typical bond has and investors may buy, hold or sell the sukuk after this has been issued in the primary market. Hence, liquidity considerations are also relevant for sukuk bonds. The buyer of a sukuk bond is indirectly buying an asset that has value rather than entering into a loan obligation with the issuer of a typical debt instrument. Importantly, the number of investors in the Islamic world cannot be ignored and therefore Sharia compliant vehicles capable of attracting their wealth are increasingly relevant. The sukuk is a good starting point for issuers to tap into this reality.

The Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) organized a regional consultation workshop on Sukuk Model Law project. The workshop was organized in partnership with the Monetary Authority of Brunei Darussalam and was held in Brunei capital. Participants included senior officials of financial authorities from the IDB member countries in the ASEAN region, namely Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Maldives, as well as from Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. The project aims to create a model Sukuk law and guidelines that allow IDB member countries and other jurisdictions a basis for a legal framework for Sukuk issuance and regulation. This was the second of four regional consultations on the Sukuk law. The first consultation was held in Senegal, Africa, and other two are planned for Europe/Central Asia and the MENA regions.

#Malaysian RHB Islamic Bank has issued RM250mil subordinated sukuk murabahah, the bank's first bond issuance in about three years. Parent company RHB Bank said the sukuk would mature in 10 years and could only be redeemed from the sixth year onwards. It has a fixed profit rate of 4.88% per annum, payable semi-annually in arrears throughout the entire tenure. RHB said proceeds raised from the sukuk issuance would be used for RHB Islamic’s syariah compliant working capital. In 2016, RHB Islamic turned in a profit after tax of RM324.8mil, a 27.4% increase against RM254.8mil in the preceding year.

Malaysia's Public Sector Home Financing Board issued up to RM3.25 billion sukuk to finance housing loans to the public sector employees. The board is also known as Lembaga Pembiayaan Perumahan Sektor Awam (LPPSA). The LPPSA said the RM3.25 billion sukuk notes formed a part of its RM25 billion Islamic commercial papers programme, which is guaranteed by the Malaysian Government. The sukuk was issued in tranches of five-year to 30-year and was priced at 4.17% to 5.225% per annum across tenures. Lead managers include Affin Hwang Investment Bank, AmInvestment Bank, Bank Islam Malaysia, CIMB Investment Bank, Maybank Investment Bank, OCBC Bank and RHB Investment Bank. CIMB is also the facility agent while RHB Islamic is the Shariah adviser.

London Stock Exchange welcomes the largest Sukuk issued by a supranational globally in 2017, raising $1.25bn. The isssuance is listed by the Saudi Arabia based Islamic Development Bank and is a five-year bond with a 2.393 % yield. This listing adds to the broad range of Islamic finance products available to investors on London Stock Exchange. According to Nikhil Rathi, CEO of the London Stock Exchange, the listing demonstrates London’s standing as the world’s most international financial centre and confirms the UK as the key destination for Shariah-compliant financial products. The CFO of Islamic Development Bank, Dr. Ahmet Tiktik, said choosing London as the location for the new $1.25bn Sukuk shows the bank's continuous support for London Stock Exchange.

Saudi Arabia saw bids of $33 billion (Dh121.11 billion) for its record-breaking debut sukuk issue. The issue size of the sukuk could likely be $8 billion, spread across $4 billion each for the 5 year and 10 year tranche. The sukuk was priced at 100 basis points over mid-swaps for the 5-year tranche, and 145 basis points over mid-swaps for the longer dated issue. Anita Yadav, Senior Director of Global markets and treasury at Emirates NBD, said the yield on Saudi sukuk is likely to be attractive on relative value basis, which would appeal to the yield hungry international investor. Analysts expect larger institutions like Aramco or SABIC to take advantage and come the market. On an yearly basis, Emirates NBD expects $20 billion worth of issuance from Saudi Arabia including issues from the government, and state-run enterprises, banks and corporates.

The order books for Saudi Arabia's debut U.S. dollar-denominated sukuk have reached about $25 billion. The dual-tranche sukuk is set to be the largest ever Islamic bond, beating a $4 billion sukuk issued by Qatar in 2012. The two tranches have maturities of five and ten years. The initial price guidance put the senior unsecured Islamic bonds in the 115 bps over mid-swaps area for the five-year tranche and 155 bps over mid-swaps area for the 10-year tranche.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of #Pakistan (SECP) announced that it was relaxing regulations for Sukuk issuance in order to develop the Shariah-compliant market. The regulator said the SECP was amending the 2015 Issue of Sukuk Regulations to facilitate the issuers, reduce the cost of issue and ease the regulatory burden. The SECP has invited public opinion on the proposed amendments before their finalisation. The commission has also advised the PSX to come up with proposals for reducing the cost of market-maker for Sukuk issuance, rationalising the minimum size of public offer portion to reduce the cost of issue and organising a seminar with potential issuers to widen awareness. According to the SECP, the Sukuk market has been performing below potential in Pakistan. While the demand is substantial, supply remains short.

Global sukuk market resumed positive strides in 2016 after three years of consecutive decline. The sukuk market also witnessed an important shift where corporate issuers dominated the market in 2016 with USD47.3 billion volume of issuance, representing a share of 63.2%. This is in contrast to historical trends where issuance was driven largely by sovereigns. Overall, sukuk issuer profile remained similar to historical trends. Malaysia continued to be the main driver for sukuk issuance, commanding a market share of 46.4% of total issuances, followed by Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), accounting for 9.9% and 9.0% share. Elsewhere, Turkey recorded a notable rise in sukuk issuance at USD4.1 billion for the year, supported by a number sovereign issuances with maturity ranging from one to five years. The year 2016 also witnessed issuances from Senegal, Jordan, Ivory Coast and Kuwait.

Saudi Arabia has included a disclosure on credit risk retention requirements in the prospectus of a debut dollar sukuk which is expected to issue this week and could total $10 billion. The disclosure to comply with the US Dodd-Frank Act has not been made for other sovereign sukuk issues. The US retention rule was set to align the interests of issuers of asset backed securities (ABS) with those of ABS investors by asking the sponsor of an ABS securitisation. Sukuk are generally asset-based, but in order to comply with the rules, Saudi Arabia will purchase at least 5% of the aggregate principal amount of each tranche it issues. Saudi Arabia began meeting investors on Sunday ahead of the deal, the second debt sale by the kingdom, which made its debut in the international debt markets last year with a record $17.5 billion bond.

Saudi Arabia is expected to raise several billion US dollar sukuk across five and 10-year tranches. The notes will be in a hybrid mudaraba-murahaba format, a structure in essence already trialled by Saudi Aramco for a riyal-denominated sukuk. The kingdom is rated A1 by Moody's and A+ by Fitch. The banks running the deal are BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan and NCB Capital. The national oil company Saudi Aramco raised SR11.25bn riyals in order to diversify its revenues impacted by low international oil prices. The floating rate local currency sukuk has a seven-year maturity and offers 25bp over the six-month Saudi Arabian Interbank Offered Rate.

In #Nigeria Jaiz Bank has accumulated funds and is now ready to massively invest in Sukuk to finance in specific infrastructure projects in the country. Managing Director Hassan Usman said that the bank, being an Islamic bank, could not invest in interests yielding instruments and therefore had to wait until Sukuk was ready. He added that there are off-shore funds held by those who share similar non-interests philosophy of Jaiz Bank which could be brought into the country. Usman said that from a capital base of N5 billion, the bank has grown its capital base to about N50 billion. From a deposit of N3. 5 billion, it has grown to about N60 billion. From the initial three branches as a Regional Bank, Jaiz Bank has grown into a National Bank with 30 branches across the nation.