IslamicFinance.de

Funds dedicated to sukuk are a rare breed, with only 20 currently marketed in the Gulf. The average size of a sukuk fund in the region is just $43 million, but collectively they serve as a measure of secondary market activity and a barometer for the larger and more lucrative business of private investment mandates. As the market sees sukuk funds continue to perform well, in line with, and on occasion outperforming their conventional peers, a significant rise over the next five years in segregated account mandates is expected to take place. The largest six sukuk funds oriented to Gulf investors hold almost half of all the assets of such funds.

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index is at 114.57474 points, down from 114.88023 at the end of last month but up from 109.78969 at the end of last year. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 112.19700 points, against 112.59309 at end-August and 107.28036 at the end of 2013. Some of the sukuk issues in the global pipeline are the following: Turkiye Finans Katilim Bankasi plans to issue $50 million worth of ringgit-denominated sukuk in Malaysia by year-end. Luxembourg planned to meet fixed income investors starting on Sept. 21 ahead of a debut issue of five-year euro-denominated sukuk. The government of Oman is expected to issue 200 million rials ($520 million) of sukuk early next year.

Prospects for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar are unsettling bond investors already rattled by political turmoil between the country and its neighbors, with its sukuk on course for its worst month in more than a year. FIFA Executive Committee member Theo Zwanziger told Germany’s Bild this week that Qatar probably won’t host the world’s biggest soccer event in 2022 because of the summer heat. While Qatar dismissed his comments, it’s creating more market turbulence for the country, which has been at odds with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over its support for the Muslim Brotherhood in the region. The bond due January 2018 will drop further if its neighbors continue to isolate Qatar and this FIFA situation isn’t resolved.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) will issue Islamic bonds in two tranches under its debut multi-currency sukuk wakala programme in Malaysia. BTMU will issue US$25 million (RM81 million) in a US dollar tranche and 2.5 billion yen (RM74 million) in a yen tranche on Thursday, a statement said. Both sukuk issues will have maturities of one year; the statement did not give other details such as pricing. Malaysia's CIMB Investment Bank is managing the issues. BTMU, part of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, set up a US$500 million multi-currency sukuk programme through its Malaysian unit in June.

Japan’s Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ is set to issue a two tranche Wakala Sukuk. At present the bank is allowed by the regulator in Japan only to handle Islamic financial transactions out of Malaysia through a subsidiary called BTMU Malaysia. BTMU will issue the Sukuk in a $25m US$ tranche and a 2.5bn yen tranche with both tranches carrying maturities of one year. CIMB Investment Bank is managing the issues.

Competitive pricing, product innovation and deeper liquidity have made Shariah-principled finance increasingly appealing as a funding source in the global financial industry, according to QInvest head of financial institutions and structured finance, Alex Armstrong. Finding that several issuers from outside the Islamic world - including the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the UK government - have successfully raised funding through sukuk or Islamic bonds in recent months, he said, others are expected to follow suit. Investor demand for Islamic products is strong and QInvest fully expects demand to exceed supply for some time to come, he added.

The Governor of Osun State in Nigeria, Rauf Aregbesola, introduced Sukuk Bond to fasttrack the state’s economic development. According to the issuing houses, Governor Aregbesola’s sukuk initiative was said to be the first Islamic bond in sub-Saharan Africa. Though the governor knows that Sukuk is Islamic in nomenclature, the Sukuk bond is a conventional bond and coordinated by the regular investors in the nation’s capital and money market. The N14. 4 billion sukuk (14. 75 percent) fixed return tranche 2 has 42 investors with Lotus Capital Limited as the leading issuing house and Augusto and co as the rating agent. The bond, which is being used to finance roads and school constructions across the state, is due in 2020.

Standard Bank has acted as Joint Lead Manager on the National Treasury of South Africa's debut Sukuk in the international capital markets. The US$500m 5.75-year Sukuk is the largest Sukuk issuance from Sub-Saharan Africa and only the third Sukuk to be issued by a non-Islamic country. The Sukuk will be used to fund South Africa's National Revenue Fund. It also creates a benchmark for the market which will assist state-owned companies to access diversified sources of funding from Islamic investors. The Sukuk is based on the Ijara principle.

Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank set the size of its five-year sukuk issue at $1.5 billion while tightening the pricing to the low end of its previous guidance. Final pricing was given at a spread of 10 basis points over mid-swaps; previous guidance was in the range of 10 to 12 bps, and initial price thoughts were 15 bps. The order books were approaching $2 billion. Books closed at 1000 GMT on Thursday. The AAA-rated IDB had mandated CIMB, Deutsche Bank, First Gulf Bank, GIB Capital, HSBC, Maybank, Natixis, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, and Standard Chartered Bank as joint bookrunners to arrange the sukuk sale. The IDB 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.

The RHB Banking Group is keen to participate in more global sukuk issuance after making significant inroads in the market via its units, RHB Islamic Bank Bhd and RHB Investment Bank Bhd (RHBIB), in recent global transactions. Yesterday, RHBIB co-managed the Government of Hong Kong SAR of the People's Republic of China's inaugural US$1 billion sukuk issuance which also marks the world's first US dollar-denominated sukuk originated by a AAA-rated government. RHBIB meanwhile was lead manager cum underwriter to IDB Trust Services Ltd's recent 5-year US$1.5 billion sukuk issuance under its US$10 billion (RM32 billion) sukuk programme guaranteed by the Saudi based Islamic Development Bank.

The Islamic Development Bank is aiming to price a U.S. dollar-denominated sukuk of benchmark size and five years duration on Thursday, after releasing initial price guidance for the issue. The Jeddah-based institution is targeting pricing in the area of 15 basis points over midswaps. The IDB was due to wrap up a series of investor meetings on Wednesday after announcing last week it had chosen banks to arrange roadshows ahead of a potential deal. The AAA-rated IDB chose CIMB, Deutsche Bank, First Gulf Bank, GIB Capital, HSBC, Maybank, Natixis, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, and Standard Chartered as arrangers.

South Africa sold its first ever Shariah-compliant bonds at a record-low borrowing cost, opening the way for state-owned companies to tap a growing Muslim investor base. The $500 million of 5.75-year securities were priced with a coupon of 3.9 percent, at the bottom end of the range marketed to asset managers. Fifty-nine percent of investors participating in the deal were from the Middle East. The sale is likely to prompt more African nations and companies to follow. Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., South Africa’s state-owned electricity company, and Transnet SOC Ltd., the ports and railways operator, have said they may tap the Islamic finance market. BNP Paribas SA, KFH Investment and Standard Bank Group Ltd. arranged the sale.

Islamic financial institutions (FIs) drove the Malaysian bond and sukuk markets in 1H 2014. With AmIslamic Bank paving the way with the issuance of the world's first Basel III-compliant Tier-2 Sukuk Murabahah in February, a host of RAM-rated Malaysian Islamic FIs - such as Maybank Islamic, Public Islamic Bank and Hong Leong Islamic Bank - have been tapping the domestic sukuk market for very competitively priced funding. Driven by this, the Malaysian bond market remained focused on Islamic finance in 1H 2014, with a strong showing in sukuk issuance- representing 73% of the overall corporate bond market in the same period - grossing RM42.2 billion of new issues.

Turkish participation bank Kuveyt Turk plans to issue sukuk in Malaysia aiming to raise as much as 2 billion ringgit ($625.3 million), its first foray into the Southeast Asian Islamic debt capital market. Kuveyt Turk, 62 percent owned by Kuwait Finance House , will sell the sukuk to qualified investors through its asset-leasing company, KT Kira Sertifikalari Varlik Kiralama. No timeframe was given for the deal. In July, Turkiye Finans became the first Turkish lender to issue ringgit-denominated sukuk in Malaysia when it raised 800 million ringgit ($252.2 million) from a 3 billion ringgit programme it set up in June. Moreover, in June, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ set up a $500 million multi-currency sukuk programme in Malaysia.

Middle Eastern banks bought the vast majority of a debut $500 million sukuk issue by Goldman Sachs, a positive sign for other conventional banks hoping to tap the region’s liquidity by issuing Islamic debt. Goldman priced its five-year sukuk on Tuesday at a profit rate of 2.844 per cent, drawing about $1.5 billion of investor orders, after roadshows in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Middle East investors bought 87 per cent of the Goldman sukuk, while 11 per cent went to Europe and two per cent to Asian investors. Banks bought 77 per cent of the bonds, asset managers bought 22 per cent and private banks bought one per cent. Meanwhile, France’s Societe Generale and Japan’s Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ set up sukuk programmes in Malaysia, but have not issued yet.

A feud between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen has made sukuk from Asya Katilim Bankasi AS (ASYAB) the worst-performing in the world. Debt from the Shariah-compliant lender known as Bank Asya has lost 29 percent this year, compared with an average 4.5 percent return for dollar-denominated sukuk globally. The government must be clear about what the “problem” with Bank Asya is and decide whether it will take over the lender or impose restrictions on it. The bank, whose shares resumed trading on Turkey’s bourse on Sept. 15 following the five-week long suspension, is planning to raise funds in a capital increase, it said yesterday. The stock slumped 42 percent this week to a record low of 72 kurus at 12:24 p.m. in Istanbul.

New rules issued by the United Arab Emirates' securities market regulator aim to develop local currency bond and sukuk markets in the Arab world's second biggest economy. In meetings with potential issuers and financial firms in Abu Dhabi and Dubai this week, the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) outlined rules designed to make it faster and cheaper for companies to issue conventional and Islamic bonds, and easier for investors to trade them. If successful, the project could help to reshape corporate financing in the UAE. At present, firms rely heavily on bank loans and to a lesser extent retained earnings; local currency bond issuance is minimal, and usually only the biggest companies can afford to issue bonds in the international market.

On 24 July, under the auspices of the Prime Minister Dr Abdullah Ensour, Jordan officially inaugurated regulations for the issuance of Sukuk. The inauguration ceremony was organized by the Jordan Securities Commission ( JSC ) and followed its conclusion of the preparation of all legislation and instructions required by the Islamic Finance Sukuk Law No. 30/2012 and legislation governing the issuance process of Sukuk for all economic activities in both the public and private sectors alike. Available structures include Ijara, Mudaraba and Musharaka. The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) is a regular player in the bonds market. A clear signal to local financiers and corporates would be an Islamic issuance by the CBJ, now that the legal framework is in place.

JANY Sukuk Company Limited priced a bond on Tuesday, with the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc as Guarantor. The Issue Amount is $500 million, its Maturity Date is September 23, 2019. Following are terms and conditions of the bond: Coupon 2.844 pct; Issue price Par; Spread 90 basis points; Underlying govt bond over the midswaps; Payment Date September 23, 2014. Lead Managers are Goldman Sachs International, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, NCB Capital and QInvest. Fitch has assigned a rating of A, and Standard & Poor's A-.

MARC has assigned a final rating of AIS to Bank Muamalat Malaysia's Islamic Senior Notes Programme (Senior Sukuk) of up to RM2.0 billion under the Islamic principle of Wakalah Bi Al-Istithmar with a stable outlook. Upon review of the final documentation of the Senior Sukuk, MARC is satisfied that the terms and conditions of the Senior Sukuk have not changed in any material way from the draft documents on which the earlier preliminary rating of AIS was based. The full details on the assigned rating have been provided in Bank Muamalat's preliminary rating announcement on June 24, 2014 which can be accessed at www.marc.com.my.