IslamicFinance.de

Al Rajhi Cement Company became on Tuesday the first company in Jordan that provides Islamic sukuk to finance its operations in the Kingdom.
The declaration of the sukuk issuance, the first in the Kingdom’s history, was made during the signing ceremony that was attended by heads and directors of the participating financial institutions in the issuance.

Bloomberg Professional initiated in february the Bloomberg Islamic Finance Platform (ISLM), that is described to be more connected to the community and to provide analytical tools to maximise investment performance in the rapidly growing market for Shari'ah-compliant products and services.
Bloomberg will also launch, together with the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM), a Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) sukuk index that supplies a benchmark for MYR sovereign sukuk investments.

There is a possibility that the Islamic finance will launch this year in the Tatarstan republic in the form of sukuk.
Gazprombank has been researching and developing Islamic finance tools for several years. The Director of Gazprombank stated that Russia is ready for sukuk.

Turkey’s Islamic banks want to take advantage of the lowest borrowing costs in more than five years and the rising demand for the country’s securities by salling sukuk.
The Turkish government takes in consideration to change tax laws in order to encourage sukuk sales.
Bebinning with last april the government also allowed companies to to issue debt in accordance with Islamic finance rules.

Malaysia wants to sell RM30 billion (S$12.48 billion) of local-currency Islamic bonds under a programme. The purpose is to help finance a mass-transit railway in Kuala Lumpur.
There is a possibility that domestic sources will subscribe to the sukuk issuance.
the estimation of the government on the cost of the network and rolling stock is RM48 billion. The railway will cover a 20-kilometre radius around Kuala Lumpur's city centre and carry two million passengers a day.

It appears that the debut sukuk of Senegal in 2011 will be around $200 million.
Although the madate has been signed, the time is unknown yet.

It appears that Liquidity Management House, a unit of Kuwait Finance House (KFH), is going to issue $1 billion in sukuk. KFH's Turkish unit announced in March that they will establish $500 million Islamic bond by end-year.

Noor Islamic Bank doesn't plan to extend for now.
The deal size on the two issues owned by Noor Islamic Bank, one in the Gulf region and another one in Turkey, is between $250 million to $300 million.

After Egypt was forced to postpone plans to introduce Islamic bond regulation because of the political unrest, it doesn't look very good for the country that tries to attract Muslim wealth.
Nigeria, a competitive country, plans to license at least two Shariah-compliant institutions by the end of the year. Mauritius set minimum disclosure standards for financial statements from banks offering Islamic services.
Therefore, it looks like Egypt will loose in front of theese countries.

A plan has been developed by Indonesian finance ministry to sell sukuk in auctions on April 12. The aim is to raise one trillion rupiah in order to defray the deficit from this year.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak states that the passing of the law to give tax advantages to Korean companies issuing Islamic sukuk bonds doesn't make it easier for terorists to take money away.

Danajamin Nasional Bhd announced the issuance of the first tranche of TSH Sukuk Musyarakah Sdn Bhd’s (TSH) 11-year RM100-million Islamic Medium Term Notes (IMTNs) programme.

Although MENA didn't think this will happen, march prooved that sukuk can be further trusted, as it had enough sukuk deals and announcements.
Because of the political unrest in various parts of the Middle East and North Africa many potential issuers postponed their plans to enter the Islamic debt capital market.
The most interesting deal so far is the closure of Bank Al Jazira at the end of the month, being the first corporate sukuk made out of the Kingdom so far this year.

The issuance of the first tranche of TSH Sukuk Musyarakah Sdn Bhd's 11-year RM100 million Islamic Medium Term Notes programme was declared by Danajamin Nasional Bhd.

92 Million Kuwaiti Dinar debt restructuring of First Investment Company was completed with success by Liquidity Management House (LMH).
This was a unique deal between FIC and its creditors, being the first that used Sukuk for the purpose of restructuring a company's existing debt obligations.
The team was made of Emad Al Monayea, Vice Chairman and CEO, Masroor Ahmed Siddiqui, Senior Vice President of Investment Banking, and Mubarak Al Refaei.

Bank Al Jazira's advisors regarding the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are Dubai office of Clifford Chance LLP and Al- Jadaan & Partners Law Firm.
IFLR named Clifford Chance the "Saudi Arabian Law Firm of the Year " in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Clifford Chance has a co-operation agreement with Al-Jadaan and Partners Law Firm.

Morocco plans to authorise first Islamic bonds. Central bank of Marocco wants to allow sukuk.

Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd classified the sukuk AA+IS.
Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar is the president and CEO of Maybank Group. He states that the sukuk was very welcomed by investors.

Saudi Arabia's Bank Aljazira sees first quarter earnings from 2011 beating that of the fourth quarter. The bank's one billion riyal Islamic bond, or sukuk, will help raise its lending ratio to 10 per cent from five per cent over the coming year.

Maybank Islamic Bhd issued its maiden Tier 2 Capital Islamic subordinated sukuk of RM1bil.
The subordinated sukuk, which is based on the Islamic principle of musyarakah, was rated AA+IS (outlook stable) by Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd and carried a tenure of 10 years from the issue date on a 10 non-callable five basis. It is lead arranged by Maybank Investment Bank Bhd.