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UAE’s largest standalone Islamic bank has just closed a $750 million sukuk. Dubai Islamic Bank’s 5-year $750 million sukuk sold with a a profit rate of 2.95% and is the bank’s second $750 million sukuk this year. The first was an additional Tier 1 perpetual non-call 6-year sukuk with a profit rate of 6.25% per annum. The bank's lates sukuk attracted orders in excess of $2 billion, representing an oversubscription rate of 2.7 times. Bank ABC, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, Maybank, Sharjah Islamic Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Warba Bank acted as Joint Lead Managers and Bookrunners on this transaction. The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector acted as a Joint Lead Manager and Kuwait International Bank acted as a Co-manager.

Saudi Arabia's Dar Al-Arkan Real Estate Development announced the listing of a $600 million Sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai. The five-year Sukuk was more than 2.5 times oversubscribed and received significant interest from Middle Eastern, European and Asian investors. This issue was Dar Al Arkan’s 10th issue since 2007 and the 6th tranche of its current $2 billion program. The issue is for a 5 year term due in February 2025 with a coupon rate of 6.75%. Dar Al-Arkan’s assets include about 12.4 million square meters of projects under development. The company has handed over 15,000 residential units in Saudi Arabia and holds a land bank with a book value of around SR17 billion.

Al Baraka bank announced the raise of R400m via its second Sukuk issuance. The Sukuk issued by Al Baraka will pay a variable return over its 10-year life and qualifies as tier 2 capital for the bank. Al Baraka SA financial director Abdullah Ameed said the intention is to raise the R400m in tranches of R100m. The first tranche should be completed by the end of the year, then the lender will look to raise R300m over the course of 2020. Al Baraka CEO Shabir Chohan says the proceeds will allow the bank to continue growing its advances book, despite the weak economy.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has hired lenders to arrange meetings with investors ahead of a potential issue of five-year dollar denominated sukuk. The selected arrangers include Bank ABC, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, Maybank, Sharjah Islamic Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Warba Bank. Investor meetings will take place in Hong Kong and London starting on Nov. 11.

Malaysia-based International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM) has reissued A-1 short term sukuk worth $600 million in two series. The reissuance came in the form of $300 million with 1-month tenor at a profit rate of 1.85% and $300 million with 3-month tenor at a profit rate of 1.91%. Primary dealers include Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Barwa Bank, Boubyan Bank, Kuwait Finance House and Qatar Islamic Bank. The non-GCC banks that participated in the reissuance include Maybank Islamic, Standard Chartered Bank, Al Baraka Turk and CIMB Bank. The demand for the 1-month and 3-month Sukuk series reached a bid-to-cover ratio of 208%, and 255%, respectively.

Pakistan's government seeks the International Monetary Fund's (IMF's) nod for issuance of fresh Sukuks worth Rs 200 billion. IMF's Review Mission is expected to reach Islamabad on November 28, 2019 to evaluate implementation on targets agreed by the Government of Pakistan for $ 6 billion facility. Minister for Power and Petroleum, Omar Ayub Khan last month stated that expensive power sector loans are being replaced with Sukuk which will lessen the financial impact on the economy. Pakistan's circular debt is about Rs 1.6 trillion and the new sukuk is meant to reduce the stock of this historic circular debt. The issue of sovereign guarantee for fresh Sukuks of Rs 200 billion has been raised with the State Bank of Pakistan. Meezan Bank, Faysal Bank, Bank Islami Pakistan, Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan, MCD Islamic Bank and Al Baraka Bank Pakistan are the mandated lead arrangers.

According to Fitch Ratings, Malaysia remains the main sukuk issuer this year besides countries from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. The increase in Malaysia’s sukuk market is largely driven by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and contributed by local currency corporate issuance. Notable corporate deals included energy service firm Serba Dinamik’s US$300 million (RM1.25 bilion) sukuk, the first dollar high-yield sukuk offering in the Asia-Pacific region. The Malaysian market shows how as the Shariah-compliant investor base grows, the cost of sukuk issuance becomes more competitive relative to conventional bonds. Fitch believes that global volumes normalised rather than declined last year after hitting record levels in 2017. Moving forward, Fitch believes macro-economic and geopolitical conditions will affect sukuk issuance. GCC debt markets are relatively developing but individual sovereign funding decisions can profoundly affect total supply.

According to Fitch Ratings, international sukuk issuance from major Islamic finance markets were almost unchanged in the first nine months of 2019 year-on-year (y-o-y). Sukuk issuance with a maturity of more than 18 months from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey and Pakistan totalled US$30.6 billion in 9M19 compared with US$31 billion in 9M18. This supports the view that volumes normalised rather than declined last year after hitting record levels in 2017. Fitch said that GCC debt markets are still relatively developing, and individual sovereign funding decisions can profoundly affect total supply. Fitch believes that new issuance volumes in the coming years will also be supported by refinancing activity. Nearly two-thirds of the US$99.4 billion of outstanding Fitch-rated sukuk at end-1H19 mature in less than five years.

Abu Dhabi-based Aldar Investment Properties issued a fixed rate US dollar-denominated sukuk with a tenor of 10 years for a nominal amount of US $500 million. The sukuk carries a coupon rate of 3.875%, following strong investor demand. The transaction, which marked the first 10-year public Sukuk offering by an Abu Dhabi-based issuer, was over 6 times oversubscribed. Aldar Investments owns and manages a AED 20 billion diversified portfolio of high-quality income-generating residential, retail, commercial and hospitality assets. Aldar Investments owns and manages a AED 20 billion diversified portfolio of high-quality income-generating residential, retail, commercial and hospitality assets.

Albaraka Turk Katilim Bankasi has issued TRL 600 million dual-tranche Sukuk through its subsidiary Bereket Varl?k Kiralama Sirketi. While the targeted total amount of the issuance was TRL 450 million, the total amount reached TRL 600 million. The certificates had two different tenors as 98 days and 147 days and the size of each tranche was TRL 450 million and TRL 150 million respectively. Malek K. Temsah, Albaraka Turk’s Assistant General Manager of Treasury, said that the uniqueness of this transaction was in its dual-tenured nature, which offered investors additional flexibility.

According to Moody’s Investors Service, Africa’s Islamic banks will continue to perform well and African sukuk issuance will keep expanding steadily. In October and December last year, the governments of Morocco and Nigeria issued $105 million and $327 million of sukuk. In Morocco it was an inaugural issuance and the transaction was 3.6 times oversubscribed. According to the rating agency, structural constraints that have prevented sukuk markets from developing still remain. These constraints include the legislative complexity and time associated with sukuk issuance, especially for new issuers, and the need to identify physical collateral to support the sukuk structure. Moody’s expects robust issuance in African sukuks over the next 18 months. Egypt, Algeria and Sudan have recently expressed interest in issuing sukuk.

Dubai's Emaar Properties is set to raise $500 million from the sale of sukuk. The transaction has received orders of nearly $2.5 billion, including $300 million of interest from the banks arranging the deal. The deal is part of a $2 billion debt programme and is offering investors a profit rate equivalent to 235 basis points over mid-swaps.
Standard Chartered acts as coordinator. Other banks leading the transaction are Dubai Islamic Bank, Deutsche Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Mashreqbank and Sharjah Islamic Bank.

Dubai’s Emaar Properties has hired banks to arrange investor meetings ahead of the issuance of 10-year dollar sukuk. Emaar Properties will meet investors in Asia and London starting on Sept 6. Standard Chartered was hired to coordinate the deal. Other banks leading the transaction are Dubai Islamic Bank, Deutsche Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Mashreq Bank and Sharjah Islamic Bank.

The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has hired banks to arrange a new issue of U.S. dollar-denominated sukuk, which is expected to be more than $1 billion in size. Hired banks include Emirates NBD, Standard Chartered, Gulf International Bank and HSBC and the transaction is expected to take place next month. IsDB was last in the market in April this year with a $1.5 billion five-year sukuk deal. It generally issues dollar-denominated bonds twice a year, and last year it also sold its first sukuk denominated in euro. The new transaction will be more than $1 billion in size, with one of the sources saying it could go up to $1.5 billion.

According to Moody's Investors Service, the value of global sukuk issuance is expected to increase by 6% to reach $130 billion in 2019. That forecast can be ascribed to the increase in sukuk activity in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, which manifested by the issuance of $87 billion sukuk in the first six months of 2019. Moody’s senior vice president Nitish Bhojnagarwala expects second-half volumes to moderate to around $43 billion, though Malaysia and Gulf Cooperation Council countries will continue issuing regularly. Key Islamic finance markets are working on adjusting their funding mix to support a long-term growth in sukuk volumes. As awareness towards the risk of climate change increases, the green sukuk market is expected to grow further.

Indonesia raised 8 trillion rupiah ($561.01 million) in a biweekly Islamic bond auction on Tuesday. According to the financing and risk management office at the finance ministry, the sukuk issuance matched the indicative target. The weighted average yields of project-based sukuk sold on Tuesday were lower compared with yields of comparable sukuk at the previous auction on Aug. 6. Total incoming bids were 21.4 trillion rupiah. ($1 = 14,260.0000 rupiah)

Bank Islam Malaysia is the top domestic sukuk broker for the first half of the year (1H), after helping issue US$5.15 billion (RM21.21 billion) worth of sukuk in the market. Bank Islam’s market share of the sukuk issued accounted for 29.03% of the total ringgit-denominated sukuk issued in the 1H. The bank advised on 10 issues for the period. The second-largest issuer in the 1H is Maybank Investment Bank, which was ranked first last year for the same period after having helped issue US$4.1 billion of sukuk. Analysts expect the local sukuk market to remain active driven by capital raising by government and corporates for major construction works such as the East Coast Rail Link, Light Rail Transit Line 3 and Mass Rapid Transit Line 3 projects.

Moody's Investors Service upgraded to (P)A1 from (P)A2 the provisional foreign currency senior unsecured MTN rating of AHB Sukuk Company Ltd. The AHB Sukuk Company is a special-purpose vehicle established in the Cayman Islands by Al Hilal Bank. Moody's also upgraded to A1 from A2 the backed senior unsecured rating on AHB Sukuk Company Ltd.'s outstanding USD500 million senior unsecured note due 19 September 2023. The outlook on AHB Sukuk Company Ltd.'s senior unsecured note remains stable. The upgrades are driven by the issuance on 2 July 2019 by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) of a guarantee covering AHB Sukuk Company Ltd.'s sukuk programme and its USD500 million senior note, and follows ADCB's acquisition of Al Hilal Bank on 1 May 2019.

Kuwait's Warba Bank is working to set up a sukuk programme of up to $2 billion with an initial $500 million issuance this year. CEO Shaheen Al-Ghanem said the programme is subject to central bank approval. After the initial issuance this year, the rest would be issued over the next few years as needed and the proceeds used to finance operational matters. Ghanem added that the bank was looking to start a new asset management business this year aimed at overseeing about $500 million in investments within the next three years. Its launch is awaiting final approval from the Kuwait Capital Markets authority. The bank is looking to increase its total assets to over 3.5 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($11.52 billion) by 2022 from 2.59 billion dinars. Additionally, the bank is competing to lead a 350 million Kuwaiti dinar ($1.15 billion) loan for Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) that will likely involve multiple banks.

Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) raised $500 million in its debut Additional Tier 1 (AT1) sukuk at the lowest price of 5%. Accordingly, the bank’s AT1 Sukuk yield is the lowest in the region, down from 5.25% in 2015. The lender has received orders of $4.8 billion or 9.5x oversubscription from many investors, as well as nearly 209 individual orders from Asia, GCC, and Europe. SIB has appointed Citi, HSBC, and Standard Chartered Bank as joint global coordinators. It also hired Joint Structuring Agents along with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Bank ABC, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, KFH Capital, and Standard Chartered Bank as the joint lead managers and joint bookrunners. The sukuk is a Non Call 6 years Perpetual Instrument which will reset to 6 years Treasuries in 2025.