IslamicFinance.de

Clifford Chance has advised four international development finance institutions on a US$125 million Islamic financing facility to Humania. Led by International Finance Corporation (IFC), the institutions involved in the consortium were: the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation (Finnfund), and OPEC Fund for International Development (OPEC Fund). Humania is a private healthcare company within the Bait Al Batterjee Group. The financing will be used to develop greenfield general hospitals in Alexandria (Egypt), and Casablanca (Morocco).

A tax waiver is needed, especially on asset transfers, to make Islamic financing in Indonesia more competitive with conventional financing. According to Qudeer Latif, a partner at law firm Clifford Chance, in the UK and Malaysia, the asset transfer tax is annulled, they categorize the asset transfer in the Islamic financing structure as a financial transaction, rather than a sales and purchase transaction. Another problem, he continued, stemmed from the high building transfer fee, which varied from 5% to 7%. The central government had tried to reduce it to 2.5%, but some regional governments still objected to it. According to the expert, changing the taxation rule will create a level playing field between Islamic and conventional financing.

The transaction documents for the financing of the power project were signed over three days of meetings and included a ceremony in Rabat attended by Abdelilah Benkirane, prime minister of Morocco. Part of the financing was provided via a structured Islamic tranche from the Islamic Development Bank and it was not possible to use the more traditional procurement/forward lease structure typically seen in Islamic project financings. The Islamic tranche represents the first multi tranche cross border Islamic financing into Morocco and the first international Islamic project financing structured in this manner. Clifford Chance was delighted and proud to help create a new and innovative structure in Islamic project financing.

Le cabinet d’avocats d’affaires international Clifford Chance conseille la République du Sénégal sur sa première émission de Sukuk de 100 milliards de francs CFA (environ 200 millions de dollars US). Il s’agit de la première émission souveraine de Sukuk importante réalisée en Afrique. Le Sukuk a été structuré sous forme d’Ijara. La République du Sénégal a accordé un usufruit de 99 ans sur certains de ses actifs et a décidé de les louer en retour pour effectuer des paiements de loyers aux investisseurs. L’opération a été garantie par la République du Sénégal. Les arrangeurs de cette opération sont la Société islamique pour le développement du secteur privé et Citi.

Saudi Binladin issued a SAR 1 billion Islamic bond, as a part of its expansion strategy. During the first 6 months of the year, total amount of issued sukuk bonds reached 13% of global Islamic bonds, due to continuous expansion of Saudi Arabian companies into funds market.

UK-based law consultancy company Clifford Chance has prepared and handed over the draft law for forming Sharia-compliant takaful insurance firms and sukuk debt instruments. While a new set of law will serve as the rules takaful insurance companies, amendments will be made in Capital Market Law to accommodate Islamic debt instruments like sukuks. The final draft is expexted to be finished in about a month's time.

The Dubai International Financial Centre Authority released the “DIFC Sukuk Guide” - a comprehensive introduction to various sukuk structures, as well as legal and regulatory information on issuing sukuk from the DIFC and listing sukuk on NASDAQ Dubai. Prepared by Clifford Chance, Amanie Consulting, the DFSA and the DIFC Authority, the guide provides a summary of sukuk structures and information on issuing sukuk in DIFC.

The full report is for download at the link below: