IslamicFinance.de

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index is at 115.95508 points, up from 115.82559 at the end of last month and 109.78969 at the end of last year. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 113.77886 points, against 113.92596 at end-November and 107.28036 at the end of 2013. The following are some of the sukuk issues in the pipeline: 1Malaysia Development Bhd has postponed the sale of up to 8.4 billion ringgit ($2.41 billion) of sukuk to 2015, while Indonesia's finance ministry plans to sell retail sukuk worth around 20 trillion rupiah ($1.63 billion) in April. Turkiye Finans has received regulatory approval to raise 71 million lira via sukuk, but no timeframe was given.

Hong Kong's government is trying to maintain the territory's momentum toward becoming an Islamic finance centre, as other potential sukuk issuers show little enthusiasm. In September, Hong Kong made the first U.S. dollar-denominated sukuk issue by an AAA-rated government, a $1 billion (£636.3 million) deal that put it on the map in the global competition among banking centres to attract Islamic finance business. Since then, however, there have been few if any signs of other sukuk issuers emerging in Hong Kong - demonstrating that however hard governments try, they may struggle to develop Islamic finance sectors if a strong economic rationale is absent.

Investment Dar, the Kuwaiti firm best-known for its stake in luxury carmaker Aston Martin, hopes to complete a second debt-for-assets deal with creditors by the end of March. The firm has received the backing of a significant majority of investors for the proposal, which would see creditors voluntarily exchanging debt for ownership of a portfolio of assets. No details or terms for the so-called settlement-in-kind proposal have been released, although the Nov. 18 update said there would be no losses imposed on creditors under the plan and no change to the existing maturity of the debt.

The International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFI), for which the World Bank acts as treasury manager, plans to sell a dollar-denominated Islamic bond on November 27. IFFI will look to sell a three-year sukuk of benchmark size and pay an interest rate between 15 basis points and 17 basis points over Libor. Qatar's Barwa Bank, Malaysia's CIMB , National Bank of Abu Dhabi , the investment banking arm of Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank and Standard Chartered are arranging the transaction. IFFI is rated AA by Standard and Poor's and AA+ by Fitch.

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index is at 115.78256 points, up from 115.41158 at the end of last month and 109.78969 at the end of last year. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 113.90126 points, against 113.67021 at end-October and 107.28036 at the end of 2013. Several sukuk issues are in the pipeline, including: The Tunisian government picked banks for a debut U.S. dollar sukuk issue, expected to be completed this year. The Islamic unit of Oman's Bank Muscat plans to tap the sukuk market in the first quarter of next year. Turkish Islamic bank Kuveyt Turk mandated CIMB Investment Bank, Kuwait Finance House and Maybank Investment Bank to issue up to 2 billion ringgit of sukuk in Malaysia.

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index is at 115.64836 points, up from 115.41158 at the end of last month and 109.78969 at the end of last year. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 113.89345 points, against 113.67021 at end-October and 107.28036 at the end of 2013. The Indonesian government plans to issue global sukuk in the first quarter of next year, but no details have been provided on the deal. Besides, Pakistan plans to issue a U.S. dollar-denominated Islamic bond worth at least $500 million in November. Oman's government will make its first issue of rial-denominated sukuk for the domestic market as soon as in the first quarter of 2015; the issue may be worth the equivalent of around $300 million or $400 million, with maturities of five or seven years.

Turkish participation bank Kuveyt Turk has mandated banks to issue sukuk in Malaysia, aiming to raise as much as 2 billion ringgit ($596.7 million), which will be its first foray into the southeast Asian Islamic debt capital market. Kuveyt Turk, 62 percent owned by Kuwait Finance House , said in a statement it has mandated CIMB Investment Bank Berhad, Kuwait Finance House Berhad and Maybank Investment Bank Berhad. The last time Kuveyt Turk was in the market was in June, when it issued a $500 million five-year sukuk that attracted over $3.25 billion in orders. In July, Turkiye Finans became the first Turkish lender to issue ringgit-denominated sukuk in Malaysia raising 800 million ringgit.

The Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, has graciously consented to be the Royal Patron for Malaysia’s Islamic Finance Initiative. On behalf of the Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre (MIFC) executive committee, the central bank said under the patronage of Sultan Nazrin, it was envisaged that Malaysia’s Islamic finance marketplace would continue to further strengthen the goodwill and strong bilateral relationships the country has established with other nations. Sultan Nazrin obtained a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford and a Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government from Harvard University.

Hong Kong sold US$1 billion (RM3.19 billion) of sovereign Islamic bonds in its first-ever issue of the securities, attracting orders for 4.7 times the amount on offer. The dollar-denominated five-year notes were priced at a 2.005 per cent profit rate. The United Kingdom, which along with Hong Kong is rated the highest investment grade, sold sukuk for the first time in June at a coupon of 2.036 per cent. Those notes yielded 1.76 per cent yesterday. The Hong Kong sukuk was priced at 23 basis points above similar-maturity US Treasuries, the narrowest spread ever achieved on a benchmark dollar issuance from an Asian government outside Japan. The city has changed its tax laws to help pave the way for sales of syariah-compliant debt.