IslamicFinance.de

According to HSBC Holdings Plc, sales of Islamic bonds may rise to US$44 billion this year as request outstrips supply and as Asian and Middle East investors tap the market complying with Islamic banking rulings. Companies and governments are tapping the Islamic bond market as borrowing costs decline amid rising investor demand.
Emirates Islamic Bank PJSC and First Gulf Bank PJSC of Abu Dhabi raised US$500 million each from sukuk sales.
Shariah-compliant bonds won 7.2% last year, according to the HSBC/Nasdaq Dubai US Dollar Sukuk Index, while debt in developing markets rose 8.5%, shows JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s EMBI Global Composite Index .

According to Morgan Stanley & Co., Middle East and North Africa foreign bond sales from this year will surpass last year’s $27.6 billion because borrowers need to pay loans and will increasingly choose bonds.
It seems that International bond sales from the Middle East and North Africa fell 17% in 2011 from $33.1 billion in the previous year.
Bloomberg states that borrowers in the Middle East and North Africa have gathered $1.3 billion from three issues this year, all of them sales of sukuk by financial institutions.
Tamweel PJSC raised $300 million from five-year Islamic bond Jan. 12, while Emirates Islamic Bank PJSC sold $500 million in five-year Islamic bonds Jan. 10.

Emirates Islamic Bank PJSC anticipates an increase by 5 percent to 10 percent this year of Islamic financing business. The rise will be driven by an increase in financing to small and medium-sized businesses and to large companies.