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The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index was last at 118.52310 points, up from 116.97354 at the end of last year. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 116.74988 points against 115.21206 at end-2015. Some of the sukuk in the pipeline are the following: Saudi International Petrochemical Co said in late March that it had appointed Riyad Capital and NCB Capital as lead managers for a sukuk issue, without giving further details. Saudi Arabian Airlines plans to raise 5 billion riyals (US$1.3 billion) via the first tranche of a sukuk issuance programme in the second or third quarter of this year. Kuwait's Boubyan Bank aims to issue US$250 million of sukuk before the end of April.

Islamic bond sales are off to a racing start this year as Malaysia plans to tap the market following Indonesia’s $2.5 billion issue, which was more than three times oversubscribed. Global sukuk offerings of $11.3 billion are already 30 per cent more than the first quarter of last year and are approaching the $12 billion for the same period of 2014. Malaysia reportedly selected JPMorgan Chase, CIMB Group, Malayan Banking and HSBC to arrange investor meetings for as early as the end of next week. In a sign of the demand that Malaysia’s government debt is attracting, a 4 billion ringgit ($998 million) sale of 10-year local-currency Islamic notes on Wednesday garnered a bid-to- cover ratio of 3.2 times.

Dubai Islamic Bank returned to the international debt capital markets with a very successful $500 million 5Y Sukuk issue yesterday. This deal is the first GCC bank issuance since November 2015 and essentially marks the reopening of the market after a hiatus of 4+ months. The transaction is being hailed as a tremendous accomplishment in the current environment where the GCC has gone through a well-documented change in onshore liquidity conditions and witnessed multiple rating downgrades, which have been mainly the result of the drop in oil prices. The offering was oversubscribed (2.4x) attracting more than $1.2 billion in demand from 87 investors.

National carrier Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) is seeking to raise 5 billion riyals ($1.3 billion) via the first tranche of a sukuk isuance programme in the second or third quarter of this year, its director-general Saleh al-Jasser said. The funds will be used to finance fleet expansion, as the carrier aims to operate 200 aircraft by 2020. Details of the second tranche of the sukuk programme have not been determined, he added. The airline has been spinning off units in the last several years; it is now preparing documentation to hive off its cargo unit in an initial public offer of shares, Jasser said without giving details.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) is expected to price a dollar-denominated sukuk of benchmark size as soon as Tuesday after releasing initial price thoughts for the offering, a document from lead arrangers showed. Pricing for the five-year sukuk has been earmarked to be in the area of 245 basis points over midswaps, according to the document. DIB chose seven banks to arrange meetings with fixed income investors in London on Monday, ahead of the possible sukuk issue, it was announced last week.

The Republic of Indonesia swept through its funding target for the first half of 2016 on Monday with an upsized $2.5 billion sukuk issue. As a result of the split- and 10-year deal, the sovereign has now raised 64% of the $9.35 billion it is targeting from international markets in 2016, or 2% more than the 62% it was hoping to raise by the end of June. The Baa3/BBB-/BB+ rated credit has been one of the chief beneficiaries of the market’s strong momentum following the Fed's decision to slow the pace of interest rate rises last week. As a result, the order book for the sovereign’s 144a offering closed around the $8.5 billion mark, encouraging it to upsize the transaction by $500 million and press down on the new issue premium.

Kuwait's Boubyan Bank aims to issue sukuk worth $250 million before the end of April, the lender's chief executive said on Monday. Adel Abdul Wahab al-Majed told reporters of the plan after the company's annual meeting. Boubyan Bank in January said it had received regulatory approval to issue a capital-boosting sukuk worth $250 million. Majed added that the sukuk would allow the bank to fulfill Basel III requirements and cover its capital needs until 2018.

Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) has chosen ten banks to arrange a series of meetings with fixed income investors ahead of a potential sale of sukuk, a document from lead arrangers showed. The unit of Islamic Development Bank will roadshow in Asia, Europe and the Middle East commencing on Mar. 23, with a dollar-denominated sukuk of benchmark size to be issued after the meetings, subject to market conditions. Bank ABC, Boubyan Bank, CIMB, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD, First Gulf Bank, HSBC, Mizuho, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered are the chosen arrangers of the meetings and potential sukuk issue.

Qatar International Islamic Bank is in the advanced stages of preparing to conduct a Tier 1 sukuk issue worth 1 billion riyals ($275 million), it said in a statement on Thursday. The bank said the capital-boosting issue would follow the bank receiving all regulatory approvals. It didn't elaborate.

Dubai Islamic Bank is embarking on a roadshow for a senior dollar sukuk, and looks likely to be the first bank from the Gulf Cooperation Council to enter the public bond markets this year. Bank ABC, DIB, Emirates Islamic Bank, HSBC, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered Bank have arranged fixed income investor meetings to take place in London on March 21. DIB, rated Baa1/—/A, will print the Reg S note under its $2.5bn sukuk programme.

Axiata Group Bhd’s 10-year US$500mil Sukuk received strong response with a final book of over US$900mil orders. The telco company said this was a bid-to-cover ratio of over 1.8 times, and a final yield of 4.357%. The bookbuilding exercise commenced with an initial price guidance of US Treasuries (“UST”) + 2.60% area. Demand for the Sukuk issuance led to a final price guidance of UST + 2.45% area ± 0.05% at Asian close/London mid with books in excess of US$1.4bil. The Sukuk would be issued by its Malaysian-incorporated special purpose vehicle, Axiata SPV2 Bhd. Proceeds of the Sukuk Issuance will be utilised to fund the proposed acquisition of Ncell Pvt. Ltd.

National mortgage corporation Cagamas Bhd is issuing its second Singapore dollar-denominated sukuk worth S$150mil. The sukuk, to be issued through subsidiary Cagamas Global Sukuk Bhd, will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Cagamas. The issuance, with a maturity of one year, comes under Cagamas’ US$2.5bil multicurrency sukuk issuance programme. The proceeds of the sukuk will be used to fund the purchase of Islamic home financing from the financial system. The issuance will bring the company’s aggregate issuance for this year to RM3.2bil.

The Republic of Indonesia begins global roadshows on Thursday for a new global sukuk deal, its first benchmark borrowing of the year in the offshore markets. The prospective Reg S/144a transaction is being led by CIMB, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered. A few weeks ahead of the roadshow, Robert Pakpahan, Indonesia's director general of budget financing and risk management, spoke about the sovereign's funding plans for the year. Pakpahan says he hopes declining oil prices and shrinking investment funds from the Middle East will not affect the pricing prospects for the new deal.

Several companies in Oman, including a real estate developer, are planning to issue sukuk or Islamic debt instrument. A real estate company has already approached the market regulator Capital Market Authority for floating a sukuk issue for its second phase development, said Abdullah Salim Al Salmi, executive president of the Capital Market Authority (CMA). However, he declined to name the real estate company that is trying to raise funds by way of a sukuk issue. Al Salmi said that the banks may face liquidity problem and the financial institutions have to issue either sukuk or bond for raising funds to avoid an asset-liability mismatch.

Fitch Ratings has assigned Indonesia's proposed US dollar-denominated sovereign global certificates (sukuk) issued through Perusahaan Penerbit SBSN Indonesia III (PPSI-III) an expected 'BBB-(EXP)' rating. The expected rating is in line with Indonesia's Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'BBB-', which has a Stable Outlook. The rating reflects Fitch's view that cash flows supporting payment on the sukuk will constitute direct, unconditional, unsecured and general obligations of Indonesia, ranking equally with Indonesia's unsecured and unsubordinated marketable external debt. Fitch has given no consideration to the sukuk's underlying assets.

Global sukuk market is expected to remain fairly resilient at around US$55bil to US$65bil (RM231bil to RM273bil) this year compared with US$66.4bil last year, despite ebbing global market sentiment, particularly in Malaysia amid the weaker ringgit, according to RAM Ratings. Given the steep fall in crude oil prices that have adversely affected the core sukuk markets of Malaysia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the rating agency’s projection takes into account these countries’ government expenditure cuts and potential delays in infrastructure spending. Malaysia’s global leadership last year was underscored by US$23bil of sukuk issuance from corporate and quasi-government sectors.

The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has issued a $1.5 billion five-year Sukuk as part of its $25 billion Sukuk programme. The issuance was arranged by Emirates NBD Capital, Boubyan Bank, Gulf International Bank CIMB, JP Morgan, Natixis and Standard Chartered. It will be listed in the London, Malaysia and Nasdaq Dubai stock exchanges.

The future of Islamic bonds in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) seems "excellent" in the medium-to-long term, but lack of supply and right price is "stifling" demand and liquidity in the market, according to NBAD. Finding that oil prices will be a key determinant of sukuk returns in 2016, NBAD said the uncertainty over the likely trajectory in the US interest rates, the bear market in oil, and increasing fiscal concerns across the region all contributed to a bearish tone in the market, causing many issuers to remain on the sidelines. Although GCC sukuk investors remain natural buyers, they have tightened their credit quality criteria, and become much more price sensitive.

Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank has set final price guidance for a dollar-denominated sukuk issue of five years duration, which it plans to sell later on Thursday. Guidance has been set at 50 basis points over midswaps. Islamic Development Bank on Wednesday opened books and set initial price thoughts in the range of mid-to-high 50s bps. The benchmark-sized offering has received orders worth $1.4 billion from investors so far, of which $190 million came from the joint lead arrangers. The sukuk offering is being arranged by Boubyan Bank, CIMB, Emirates NBD Capital, Gulf International Bank, JP Morgan, Natixis and Standard Chartered.

There is strong demand for Indonesia's sharia-compliant government retail bonds (in Indonesian: Sukuk Negara Ritel, abbreviated Sukri). Since the launch of series SR-008 on Friday (19/02), a number of sales agents have run out of quota. These financial institutions now request additional quota from the government. The three year SR-008 series carries a fixed coupon of 8.3 percent per year and is tradable on the secondary market. The government of Indonesia targets to collect up to IDR 30 trillion (approx. USD $2.2 billion) in funds from the issuance. Sukri bonds are only available to Indonesian citizens.