IslamicFinance.de

Africa Finance Corp (AFC), a pan-African multilateral institution based in Nigeria, is likely to make a debut U.S. dollar sukuk issue by early February. If AFC makes a final decision to go ahead with the proposed debt sale over coming days, the sukuk will be issued in two or three weeks through a private sale. The sukuk would be structured with a murabaha format and use Nasdaq Dubai's platform for murabaha transactions. Mohamed Damak, global head of Islamic finance at S&P Global Ratings, said more sukuk issuance will come from Africa-based issuers over the next few years as borrowers seek to expand their investor bases. Another reason for issuers in Africa is that sometimes sukuk can be cheaper than conventional bonds, especially when it attracts significant interest from the market.