IslamicFinance.de

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is keen to issue another sukuk next year following the success of the QInvest-assisted, first euro-denominated sovereign sukuk issued in September 2014, Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna said. He attended a roundtable discussion in Doha, focussing on strategic co-operation between the two countries in the field of international finance, among others. According to Gramegna, the seminar focused on Luxembourg as a diversified financial centre for private and institutional investors from the Middle East, as well as a leading Islamic finance centre in Europe. He noted that economic ties between the two countries led to a number of Qatari investments in the Grand Duchy.

Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has tightened pricing on a $1 billion five-year sukuk which could price later on Thursday. The lender tightened its pricing on the senior unsecured sukuk to 8 basis points over midswaps. It had opened books on Tuesday after setting initial price thoughts at around 10 bps over midswaps. Investors have committed to orders worth around $1.7 billion for the issue; the book is expected to close at 0900 GMT. IDB has picked CIMB, Dubai Islamic Bank, GIB Capital, HSBC, Natixis, NCB Capital, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, RHB Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered to arrange roadshows in the Middle East and Asia, which would wind up on Thursday.

Moody's Investors Service has assigned a provisional (P)A3 senior unsecured (foreign and local currency) MTN rating to the $3 billion Trust Certificates Issuance Program of SIB Sukuk Company III Limited, a special purpose vehicle incorporated in the Cayman Islands by Sharjah Islamic Bank PJSC (SIB). The outlook on the issuer is stable. The (P) A3 rating assigned to the Sukuk trust certificates is at the same level as the A3 foreign and local currency issuer rating of SIB. The proceeds of each issue of Certificates will be used by the Issuer to acquire an ownership interest in a portfolio of assets. Upon a conclusive review of the transaction and associated documentation, Moody's will endeavour to assign definitive ratings to any issue of Certificates.

Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has opened books after setting initial price thoughts for a potential dollar-denominated sukuk, which could price as early as Thursday, a document from lead arrangers showed. IDB has set initial price thoughts for the senior unsecured five-year sukuk issue at around 10 basis points over midswaps, the document showed. The AAA-rated IDB on Feb. 24 said it had picked CIMB, Dubai Islamic Bank, GIB Capital, HSBC, Natixis, NCB Capital, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, RHB Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered to arrange roadshows in the Middle East and Asia. The roadshows will continue until Thursday, the document showed.

La Chaire Éthique et Normes de la Finance de l’Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne a le plaisir de vous inviter au Séminaire Mensuel qui aura lieu le Mercredi 11 Mars 2015 au 2 rue Cujas, Salle 208 (2ème étage) à 9h. Ce séminaire se fera par vidéoconférence entre le Centre de Recherche sur l’Économie Islamique à Djeddah et l’Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. L’invité d’honneur pour cette séance sera Monsieur Anass Patel qui nous présentera son travail de recherche : “Channeling Asset-Managed Sukuk towards SMEs financing: Sukuk Mudaraba prototype applied to a French SME”. Si vous souhaitez participer à ce séminaire, vous pouvez vous inscrire en http://cenf.univ-paris1.fr/jp/agenda/inscription-en-ligne-au-prochain-se....

Sharjah Islamic Bank plans to launch a dollar based sukuk, and will hold meetings with fixed income investors on March 5. The bank plans to meet investors in Asia and Europe, it said in a statement on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, and HSBC will act as be arranging meetings on SIB’s behalf.

Global sales of Sharia-compliant debt have slumped more than 70 per cent this year amid a plunge in crude prices. The drought underscores the industry’s dependence on sales from the GCC. Activity will pick up over the coming weeks, with Emirates Airline planning to sell US$1 billion of Sharia-compliant notes this quarter. Petroliam Nasional, the Malaysian state oil company known as Petronas, is seeking to raise as much as $7bn in the largest sale of dollar-denominated sukuk. The Islamic Development Bank will meet investors from this week before a possible issue. Meanwhile, Garuda Indonesia may issue $500 million of US currency Sharia-compliant debt in April.

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index is at 117.49811 points, up from 117.48601 at the end of January and 115.79726 at the end of last year. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 115.48693 against 115.34912 at the end of January and 113.69014 at end-2014. Some of the sukuk in the pipeline are: Kuveyt Turk is seeking a window to sell maiden ringgit-denominated sukuk in Malaysia; the lender will set up a 2 billion ringgit ($549 million) Islamic medium-term note programme. National airline Garuda Indonesia said in late February it had taken a $400 million bridge loan from National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Dubai Islamic Bank and would refinance it with a $500 million sukuk issue later this year. Khazanah Nasional plans to issue sukuk worth up to 1 billion ringgit to help fund schools.

Malaysia's $40 billion sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional plans to issue a sukuk worth up to one billion ringgit ($279.17 million) to help fund schools, its managing director Azman Mokhtar said. The planned "social impact sukuk" is awaiting regulatory approval from Malaysian financial regulators. The move is aimed at opening funding for education to a broad pool of investors rather than financing it out of its own reserves, he added. Mokhtar said a lot of charitable organisations, family offices and trusts wanted to participate in the fundraising and this had helped prompt Khazanah into setting up the sukuk rather than using its own money.

Niger's government will establish an Islamic bond programme worth 150 billion CFA francs ($260 million), permitting its first issue of sukuk, with assistance from the private sector arm of the Islamic Development Bank. Niger's sukuk would be issued over the next five years in two separate transactions worth 75 billion CFA francs each, the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) said. The government already has a number of projects that could be financed through sukuk, Amadou Boubacar Cisse, Niger's planning minister, was quoted. Niger would follow Senegal and South Africa, which issued sovereign sukuk for the first time last year; Ivory Coast has been considering a 200 billion CFA franc sukuk issue. Tunisia plans a debut sukuk issue in the third quarter of this year.

Gulf Finance House (GFH), the Bahraini Islamic investment firm, plans to make a $230 million sukuk issue this year to help it fund acquisitions of two to three regional companies. The bank sold $170 million of convertible sukuk murabaha last year to raise money for the investments, Ahmed Khalil Al-Mutawa said. The paper was converted into equity in the same year. In addition to the funds raised through sukuk last year and this year, the rest of the money needed for the acquisitions is likely to come from bank borrowing. Al-Mutawa said that the companies targeted by GFH focused on asset and wealth management and were based in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Dubai. The deals, which involve taking controlling stakes, should be closed by the end of the second quarter, he said. He did not give further details.

The International Islamic Liquidity Management (IILM) has successfully reissued USD990 million benchmark size short-term Sukuk. i) A USD490 million 3-month tenor priced at 0.56260% profit rate, which received total bids of $1.1 1 billion from 11 bids. ii) A USD500 million 6-month tenor priced at 0.78570% profit rate, which received total bids of just over $1 billion from 14 bids. The reissuance of USD990 million Sukuk auction was fully subscribed by IILM primary dealers. After a quiet start to 2015, Sukuk market activity picked up this week a short-term issuance by the Bahrain Central Bank and with announcements of upcoming issuances from Gulf Finance House, Qatar Islamic Bank, Indonesian national air carrier Garuda Indonesia, and the Islamic Development Bank.

L'Etat du Sénégal a été retenu par un jury composé de banquiers, de journalistes, de professeurs d’universités, de spécialistes de la Finance islamique, à l'issue d'une table ronde, mi-janvier 2015 à Kuala Lumpur, en Malaisie. La réunion de janvier dernier en Malaisie vient de décerner un satisfecit à l'Etat du Sénégal. Après son émission obligataire islamique sur le marché international d'un montant de 100 milliards de f CFA (premier du genre au sud du Sahara), menée par la BIS (Banque islamique du Sénégal) et arrangée par Citibank Dubaï et ICD, la signature du portefeuille de l'Etat prend ainsi de la voilure auprès des investisseurs et prêteurs "halal".

Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is set to meet fixed income investors starting Sunday ahead of a potential dollar-denominated sukuk transaction. The AAA-rated IDB has picked nine banks to arrange investor meetings in the Middle East and Asia, a benchmark offering will follow, subject to market conditions. CIMB, Dubai Islamic Bank, GIB Capital, HSBC, Natixis, NCB Capital, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, RHB Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered have been chosen to arrange the sukuk sale. IDB, which last issued $1.5 billion in five-year Islamic bonds in September, is looking to increase its issuance of sukuk, partly to raise its profile among international investors and to secure similar pricing levels to other development banks.

Qatar Islamic Bank said on Monday its shareholders had approved the issuance of up to 5 billion riyals ($1.37 billion) of Tier 1-boosting sukuk. The sale would be in accordance with Basel III banking rules and the final amount and currency of the offering would be decided by the board at a later date, the bank said in a bourse filing. The bank said on Jan. 18 it planned to raise up to 2 billion riyals through a sukuk which enhanced its Tier 1 – or core – capital.

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index is at 117.50283 points, up from 117.48601 at the end of last month and 115.79726 at the end of last year. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 115.60967 against 115.34912 at the end of January and 113.69014 at end-2014. Sukuk in the pipeline include: Emirates airline hired banks to help it arrange a sukuk issue of up to $1 billion, backed by UK Export Finance. The Malaysia-based International Islamic Liquidity Management Corp will auction $490 million worth of three-month sukuk and $500 million of six-month sukuk on Feb. 24. Oman's government is expected to conduct its first sukuk issue, for 200 million rials ($520 million), this year.

The Turkish Treasury said on Wednesday it issued a lira-denominated sukuk with a volume of 1.8 billion lira ($736 million). The instrument will mature on Feb. 15, 2017, the Treasury said on its website. With the latest sukuk, the Treasury's outstanding lira-denominated sukuk amount has increased to 6.8 billion lira. Treasury also has $3.75 billion worth of outstanding dollar-denominated sukuk.

Emirates, the Dubai-based airline, has hired banks to help it arrange a sukuk of up to $1 billion, as the airline seeks to raise cash to finance its pipeline of aircraft orders. The issue will be backed by UK Export Finance (UKEF). UKEF expected to guarantee an Islamic bond in 2015 issued by a customer of Airbus, Britain finance ministry said in October. The upcoming U.K.-backed Emirates deal could close by the end of the first quarter. The transaction is likely to be worth up to $1 billion, with the lifespan being between five and 10 years. Eight banks are arranging the transaction: HSBC, Citigroup, JP Morgan , National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Dubai Islamic Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD and Standard Chartered.

Malaysia-based International Islamic Liquidity Management Corp (IILM) will hold two auctions next week to issue a combined US$990mil (RM3.6bil) worth of sukuk, under a programme that is now authorised to issue US$3bil (RM10.9bil) in short-term paper. The IILM would auction US$490mil (RM1.8bil) worth of three-month sukuk and US$500mil of six-month sukuk on Tuesday. It is only the second time IILM has issued six-month paper. The IILM programme, rated A-1 by Standard and Poor’s, has US$1.85bil (RM6.7bil) worth of sukuk currently outstanding.

Asia is set for the busiest year for dollar sukuk sales in at least five years as Malaysia’s state oil company plans a record offering and Indonesia’s government seeks to beat rising US borrowing costs. Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional may sell as much as $7 billion of Islamic notes while Cagamas and Export Import Bank of Malaysia have also planned offerings for this year. Meanwhile, Indonesia is seeking to return to the fold in the first half of this year. The average yield on US currency sukuk has dropped 13 basis points to 2.92 percent this year. The planned sales by Petronas, Malaysia and Indonesia will be positive as they will help ease the shortage of sukuk.