IslamicFinance.de

Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad has revealed that it bought a RM85 million Islamic bond from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in 2009, but the Islamic insurance company assured that the investment was low-risk. Takaful Malaysia group managing director Datuk Seri Mohamed Hassan Md Kamil said the bond was purchased from Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), which was 1MDB's previous incarnation. It was purchased at a coupon rate of 5.25% and will mature in 2039. The bond iis guaranteed by the government. Hassan said the sukuk only represented about 2% to 3% of its total asset base of RM7.1 billion. He said 1MDB had yet to redeem the bond.

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index is at 118.26569 points, down from 118.50812 at the end of last month but up from 115.79726 at the end of last year. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 117.25281 against 117.54139 at end-April and 113.69014 at end-2014. Some of the sukuk in the pipeline are: Saudi British Bank plans to sell a riyal-denominated sukuk that will boost its capital reserves. Saudi Arabia's Najran Cement plans to meet fixed income investors starting on May 10 for a riyal-denominated sukuk issue. National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) plans to make a debut sukuk issue worth up to 3.9 billion riyals ($1.04 billion) this quarter.

The rise of sukuk, driven by the growing influence of investors who want syariah-compliant investment and savings products, opens new opportunities in Islamic economies, says HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd. In a statement, it said interest was strong in Gulf Cooperation Council member states as well as in growing economies such as Malaysia and Turkey. For those seeking finance, syariah-compliant debt offers access to the large pool of capital in oil-rich countries in the Middle East and South-East Asia. The bank said sukuk also had broad appeal, particularly in the Muslim world, where borrowers were attracted by the prospects of cross-border flows from the Gulf countries.

Oman government on Sunday officially announced the much-awaited maiden sovereign Sukuk issue of OMR200 million. The sovereign Sukuk issue will be through a private placement and will open for subscription soon. It will be marketed primarily to Islamic financial institutions, and sophisticated investors with a minimum subscription amount of OMR500,000, said Tahir Salim Al Amry, who heads the Sukuk committee. The sovereign Sukuk is primarily aimed at addressing the need of the nascent but fast growing Islamic financial sector in Oman. The Sukuk will serve as a domestic investment and liquidity management instrument to Islamic financial institutions in the country, he added.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced plans this week to sell $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) of five-year sukuk, the same size and tenor as its debut issue in September that drew $4.7 billion of bids. Those notes last yielded 2.06 per cent, almost the same as the rate at issue and about twice the level of the government’s similar-maturity non-Islamic securities. While the city government’s AAA- rating will ensure demand, Hong Kong is unlikely to host any corporate offers in the next one to two years as sukuk is seen as an “exotic instrument”. The main objectives of Hong Kong selling sukuk are to demonstrate that the legal framework for issuance in the city is widely accepted internationally and to attract more issuers and investors to the local market.

Saudi British Bank (SABB) is planning to sell a riyal-denominated sukuk that will boost its capital reserves, with an announcement set to be made as early as next week. The issue will boost SABB's Tier 2, or supplementary, capital and will be arranged by HSBC's Saudi Arabian unit. The sukuk could be worth 1.5 billion riyals ($400 million) and will have a 10-year lifespan but a clause that will allow the bank to redeem the issue at the end of the fifth year. Riyad Bank announced plans to issue a 4 billion riyal bond to boost its capital base earlier this week. It will have the same 10-year, non-call five, structure that SABB is planning to offer.

Indonesia has mandated four banks for its next global sukuk, which is expected to be denominated in US dollars. CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, Dubai Holdings Bhd, HSBC and JP Morgan have been hired as joint lead managers for the sukuk. Investor meetings will be held in London, the Middle East and Kuala Lumpur over the next two weeks. The issuance marks the sixth global sukuk for Indonesia. It last raised US$1.5bil in September, with a 10-year sukuk that drew over US$10bil in orders.

The tenth edition of Euromoney Saudi Arabia conference concluded on Wednesday with a firm belief that multisectoral reforms to diversify the Kingdom's economy an approach to look beyond the oil sector will add value to the local market with financial dynamism. Experts in the first session of the concluding day on sovereign bonds and sukuk referred to the intersection of ethical investment and Islamic finance in the wake of the Tadawul opening up to foreign investors for the first time. The panelists observed that in the context of the global financial crisis Islamic finance is seen as a significant option in international market which is good for the Kingdom that plays a leadership role.

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index is at 118.42809 points, down from 118.50812 at the end of last month but up from 115.79726 at the end of last year. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 117.39660 against 117.54139 at end-April and 113.69014 at end-2014. Sukuk in the pipeline include: Egypt hopes to issue ijara-structured sukuk, the country's first sovereign sukuk issue, at the beginning of the 2015/2016 fiscal year starting in July. Malaysia's CIMB Group Holdings plans to establish a new 6 billion ringgit ($1.69 billion) conventional and Islamic bond programme. Senegalese President Macky Sall said in early April that he had asked the Islamic Development Bank to help his country conduct a second sovereign sukuk issue. He gave no details.

About 180 companies are considering Islamic bond sales in 2016 after a decade of international sanctions, according to Hossein Saeedi, a senior financial analyst at the corporate finance division of Tehran-based Amin Investment Bank. The companies have already started planning to design specific financial instruments to attract foreign investors to come to the Iranian market, Saeedi said. If the sanctions are lifted, they are looking for aggressive sukuk financing. Iran is home to the world’s biggest Islamic banking industry but market instability and currency fluctuation have been among the impediments to growth.

The Gulf Bond and Sukuk Association (GBSA), the trade association representing the Arabian Gulf fixed income market, moderated a panel at the World Green Energy Summit in Dubai titled 'The Race for Green Finance/Green Funds and Bonds.' The session connected senior figures from government institutions with global energy players and highlighted the need for financial innovation in green energy funding. Panelists included Abdul Nasser Abbas, Senior Director of Treasury at Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), Annette Eberhard, CEO of Denmark's Export Credit Fund, Sean Kidney, CEO of Climate Bonds, Jarett Carson, Managing Director of EnerTech Capital, and Ben Cotton, Partner at Earth Capital Partners.

Khazanah Nasional is set to issue Malaysia's first social-impact sukuk. Local agency Ram Ratings said the RM1 billion (US$282 million) Sukuk Ihsan programme, to which it assigned a AAA rating last week, was the first social-impact bond to be rated globally. Proceeds will go towards educational projects. Investors and market observers are eagerly expecting the first issuance off the programme as early as next month, although marketing preparations are still being finalised. Socially responsible investment is catching on slowly in Asia, but issuers in South Korea, India and Taiwan have sold so-called Green bonds and interest from investors is growing.

Turkish participation bank Kuveyt Turk has sold a debut deal of ringgit-denominated sukuk and has applied for a new 1 billion lira ($376 million) deal, as the lender looks to secure lower-cost financing. Kuveyt Turk, 62 percent owned by Kuwait Finance House , will sell the lira-denominated deal to qualified investors via its asset-leasing company, KT Kira Sertifikalari Varlik Kiralama. The ringgit five-year sukuk pays an annual yield of 5.8 percent, with the proceeds swapped into dollars to reduce the bank's funding costs to 4.4 percent. The 300 million ringgit sukuk is first issuance under a 2 billion ringgit programme.

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index is at 118.66237 points, up from 117.52672 at the end of last month and 115.79726 at the end of last year. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 117.64818 against 116.23259 at end-March and 113.69014 at end-2014. Sukuk in the pipeline include: Malaysian plantation company Kuala Lumpur Kepong will raise up to 1.6 billion ringgit from Islamic bonds. Malaysia Building Society plans its third issue of covered sukuk worth 900 million ringgit. PT Bank BNI Syariah, the Islamic subsidiary of state lender PT Bank Negara Indonesia, plans to issue sukuk mudaraba with a three-year tenor worth up to 750 billion rupiah ($58.3 million) in an offer on May 18 and 19.

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index is at 118.66237 points, up from 117.52672 at the end of last month and 115.79726 at the end of last year. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 117.64818 against 116.23259 at end-March and 113.69014 at end-2014. Some of the sukuk in the pipeline are: Kuveyt Turk said in late April it would apply to the Capital Markets Board for permission to issue up to 1 billion lira ($370 million) of sukuk. The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector said in late April it would lead manage a 300 billion CFA franc ($480 million) Islamic bond programme for Ivory Coast. Malaysia's Khazanah Nasional plans the first tranche of a 1 billion ringgit ($276 million) sukuk issue as early as May.

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) will lead manage a 300 billion CFA franc ($480 million) Islamic bond programme for Ivory Coast. The programme will issue Ivory Coast's first sovereign sukuk in order to finance development projects. It will be conducted in two equal phases of 150 billion CFA francs and extend from 2015 to 2020, the ICD said in a statement. As lead manager, the ICD will structure the sukuk programme, appoint and coordinate other consultants, liaise with government officials and oversee the entire process of the offer, it said. Senegal and South Africa issued their first sukuk last year, while Niger's government plans to establish an Islamic bond programme and Nigeria has been considering an issue.

Ivory Coast has signed an agreement for Islamic-finance bond as it seeks to raise money for infrastructure. The Islamic Corp. for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) will oversee the 300 billion-CFA franc ($490 million) sukuk. The program will be implemented in two tranches, each worth 150 billion francs, between this year and 2020. The sukuk will be an “alternative financing means for developmental” projects, Ivorian Minister Delegate to Finance Niale Kaba said, without giving details on what the funds will be used for. Ivory Coast joins a growing number of sub-Saharan African nations tapping Islamic finance debt markets seeking cash for development projects.

Moody's Investors Service has assigned definitive A3 senior unsecured ratings to the US dollar trust certificates issued by Malaysia Sovereign Sukuk Bhd, a special purpose vehicle established by the government. Moody's said on Wednesday its definitive ratings for these debt obligations confirmed the provisional ratings assigned on April 6. The A3 rating assigned to the sukuk is at the same level as the long-term local-currency and foreign-currency issuer ratings of the Government of Malaysia. The proceeds of the sukuk will be used by the issuer to invest in the purchase of an asset pool consisting of Ijara assets, the right to participate in the provision of transportation services in Malaysia, and Shariah-compliant commodities.

Noor Bank has successfully priced its inaugural five-year $500 million Sukuk today. With the final pricing of 2.788 per cent for the issue, it becomes the lowest ever pricing paid by any Sukuk issuer in the UAE till date. The final pricing came at the back end of global roadshows undertaken across Asia, Middle East and Europe. This pricing of 130 bps over five-year mid-swaps is at the tight end of the final price guidance and compares to initial profit thoughts of 140 bps area. The senior unsecured issuance rated ‘A-’ (EXP) received an overwhelming investor interest from various geographies including the Middle East (54 per cent), Europe (29 per cent) and Asia (17 per cent) wherein more than 45 per cent of the issuance was allocated to European and Asian investors.

Egypt's sukuk law is likely to be ready by the start of the new fiscal year in July, according to Finance Minister Hany Kadry Dimian, who told reporters in March the government will sell dollar-denominated Shariah-compliant notes once the rules are in place. Egypt also said in early March it’s preparing to issue its first conventional international bond since 2010. Egypt has hired banks including Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas and Natixis for a $1.5 billion non-Shariah compliant bond sale, Dimian said in March. The cash raised will be partly used to pay dues to foreign oil companies. The sukuk sale will probably also be used to finance mega-projects that have been approved by the government during the investment conference.