IslamicFinance.de

The total Islamic finance industry was estimated at around $ 1.9 trillion in assets for the year end of 2016, and it pales into insignificance compared with traditional finance. However of special interest is the growing popularity of Islamic finance from both the Muslim and non-Muslim financial institutions and investors. Islamic assets are very much concentrated in the banking sector which holds $1.5 trillion in total, with the Islamic bonds or sukuks worth $320 billion, and investment funds and insurance or so called takaful worth $56 billion and $25 billion respectively.
The majority are purchase and sale or murabaha and leasing or ijara transactions. Some major Gulf companies are turning to the sukuk market to raise funds, with Saudi Aramco and the Government of Saudi Arabia both successfully launching sukuk tranches which were heavily oversubscribed.

A Riyal denominated Sukuk has been issued by the Saudi International Petrochemical Company. The company announced the successful completion of the issuance amounting to SAR 1.0 bn on June 16, 2016. The Sukuk was priced at 235 bps over six months SAIBOR for tenor of five years maturing on June 16, 2021. Riyadh Capital and NCB Capital helped to arrange the private issuance.
In the hard currency space, the Commercial Bank of Qatar issued a Eurobond which achieved the tightest spread for a MENA financial institution this year, conventional or Sukuk.
Whilst the issuance was not a Sukuk, demand for bond indicates strong investor appetite, a good sign of market demand which is likely to be tested with several large planned issuances post Ramadan. Most eagerly anticipated is a potential sovereign issuance by Saudi Arabia, as well as by Aramco, the Saudi national oil giant.

Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIA) recently announced the successful closure of its US$ 120,000,000 Secured Syndicated Islamic Facility.
Citibank and Mashreq Bank PSC acted as joint initial mandated lead arrangers, bookrunners and coordinators for the facility. The transaction received an overwhelming response from the market and was over-subscribed.
The syndicate comprised of a diverse set of banks spread across GCC and South Asia. The participating banks included Askari Bank Limited, National Bank of Pakistan, Noor Bank PJSC, United Bank Limited and Warba Bank KSCP as mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners, Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam Berhad as lead arranger and Bank Alfalah Limited as arranger. This transaction once again reiterates the multitude of synergies developing between the Middle East and Pakistan.
The facility carries a tenor of three years and will be utilized to support the Company’s ongoing strategic growth plans and general corporate purposes.

The government is thinking about up sizing the issuance of the nation’s fourth ever retail Islamic debt papers (sukuk) after seeing strong request from local individual investors.
About 14,000 investors have ordered Rp 11.1 trillion worth of the Islamic bonds within the first six days of the offering up to Monday, already nearing selling agents’ more than Rp 13 trillion commitment.
Many agents have revised their targets. The agents composed of 13 banks and 11 securities firms, including Bank Central Asia, Bank Mandiri, Citibank, OCBC NISP, Danareksa Sekuritas and Trimegah Securities.

Pakistan International Airlines Corp (PIA) raised $90 million (Dh330 million) through an Islamic syndicated fin-ancing facility.
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Al Hilal Bank, Citibank, and United Bank Limited organized the facility being the mandated lead arrangers and joint bookrunners.
Clifford Chance and Haidermota & Co was the legal counsel to the arrangers, PIA being represented by Mandviwalla & Zafar.

Dubai’s Department of Finance has developted a plan to raise $800 million. It wants to monetize road toll receipts. The aim is to fund infrastructure projects.
A six-year financing could support the Roads and Transport Authority’s infrastructure projects.
Th main arrangers and book-runners for the financing are: Citibank, Commerical Bank of Dubai, Emirates NBD and Dubai Islamic Bank.

Norton Rose (Middle East) LLP has advised Citibank as arranger in relation to a US$300,000,000 dual tranche Murabaha syndicated facility for Turkiye Finans Kat?l?m Bankas? A.S., an Islamic bank in Turkey 60% owned by the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia. It is the largest Islamic syndication in Turkey to date.
The initial transaction size was increased to US$300,000,000 due to high interest from banks in Europe, Middle East and Asia.

Iran welcomes foreign banks to establish branches in the country and engage in normal banking operations. According to Presstv, Article 44 of the Constitution had heretofore placed banking activities exclusively in the hands of government. In tandem with the Law on Usury Free Banking Operations, these two measures effectively blocked foreign banking operations from conducting business in the mainland.

With the long-awaited privatization law having already come into force in the summer of 2008, allowing the normal functioning of foreign banks in Iran is viewed as a major economy boosting initiative by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI). The rules for regulating the activity of foreign banks are set forth in four parts and 13 articles in the decree dated March 18, 2009 by the Council of Ministers and titled The Executive Bylaw of the Manner of Establishment and Operations of Foreign Bank Branches in Iran. The minimum capital for establishing a foreign bank branch in Iran is 5 million euros.

Under the new circumstances, four US banks, including Citibank and Goldman Sachs, have applied for opening a branch in Iran. The banks made a formal request to the CBI to establish a branch.

Liquidity Management House, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuwait Finance has succeeded in making a combined global 1-year Murabaha finance deal about USD 115 million for KFH-Turkey, after attracting 7 global and regional banks: Halk Bank-Turkey, Islamic Development Bank, Citibank, Garanti Bank International-Holland, Gatehouse Bank-UK, NBK International PLC, Standard Chartered Bank.

KFH-Turkey Chief Executive Officer is Ufuk Iwan.