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FWU Group, a Munich-based financial services company, has issued a $20 million five-year Islamic bond backed by insurance policies. FWU, which offers takaful solutions, used a structure known as wakala. The sukuk is the first tranche of a $100 million programme rated BBB- by Fitch, and arranged by EIIB-Rasmala. Proceeds of FWU's sukuk, which carries a profit rate of 7 percent, will be used to fund a set of re-takaful transactions for its Luxembourg-based unit Atlanticlux, which is the ultimate obligor under the programme. The assets for the transaction are the beneficial rights of insurance policies; ownership is transferred to a Guernsey-based company which is in turn managed by AON PLC, which acts as the agent.

The largest ever government guaranteed sukuk in Saudi Arabia for the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) totaled SR15.211 billion ($4.056 billion), representing a 3.21 percent profit per annum. The deal was 1.9 times oversubscribed with strong demand from a wide range of investors. This diversity of investors means that any subsequent issuance won’t be over reliant on any one sector and GACA could tap into a ready investor base. HSBC and NCB Capital acted as Joint Lead Managers and Bookrunners of the sukuk. Additionally, HSBC acted as the Sukuk Coordinator, Sole Shariah Coordinator, Sukuk Holders' Agent, and Payment Administration Agent. Standard Chartered Saudi Arabia was Co-Lead Manager for the Issuance.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) plans to increase its sukuk program to $10 billion from $6.5 billion, to keep pace with demand for investment-grade paper from the international institution. The Jeddah-based lender plans to make the increase official in November subject to clearance from regulators in Britain, where its multi-currency program is listed. An expanded sukuk program would help the IDB increase its profile among global investors and secure similar pricing levels to other development banks such as the World Bank and European Investment Bank, which can borrow at slightly lower rates because they are more frequent issuers. IDB sukuk are highly sought after by Islamic banks.

European based multinational insurance group FWU Group has now closed the US$20 million first tranche, which was oversubscribed, of its US$100 million sukuk al-wakala programme. This transaction is a securitization of takaful (Sharia'a-compliant) insurance policies and provides an opportunity for investors to participate and invest in sukuk certificates backed by Atlanticlux Lebensversicherung, a BBB rated, multinational insurance provider. The sukuk has been assigned an investment grade credit rating by Fitch and will be issued in amortizing tranches, each with a term of five years, and an average life of about 2.5 years. Distributions will be made quarterly to investors on a fully amortizing basis and the profit rate is expected to be 7.00% per annum.

The Sukuk insurance policy of the Jeddah-based Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Export Credit and Investment (ICIEC) is ready to roll out but the corporation to date has received no applications from sovereign issuers, Dr Abdul Rahman Taha, CEO of ICIEC, said. ICIEC has had initial inquiries from Egypt and Senegal regarding the credit enhancement for Ijarah-based sovereign Sukuk issuances. A major drawback of the Sukuk Insurance Policy is that ICIEC can only guarantee up to $125 million of an issuance, because of its lack of capacity. However, it has reached agreement with the insurance majors to provide further capacity for sovereign Sukuk issuances. ICIEC is expecting more business to come from industrialized countries ECAs, and has signed agreements with Atradius, the Dutch ECA, and with Ducroire Delcredere, the Belgium ECA.

The order book for the Republic of Turkey's upcoming issue of a five-year US dollar-denominated sukuk bond has swelled to over USD2.25bn. Initial profit rate guidance for the issue remains at a spread of 325bp over mid-swaps. The offering has received a balanced response across geographies, anchored by accounts in the Gulf Cooperation Council. The 144A/Reg S issue is expected to price this week, but books could go subject at short notice. HSBC, QInvest and Standard Chartered are the leads. The issue is expected to be rated Baa3 by Moody's and BBB- by Fitch.

The order book for the Republic of Turkey's upcoming issue of a five-year US dollar-denominated sukuk bond has swelled to over USD2.25bn. Initial profit rate guidance for the issue remains at a spread of 325bp over mid-swaps. The offering has received a balanced response across geographies, anchored by accounts in the Gulf Cooperation Council. The 144A/Reg S issue is expected to price this week, but books could go subject at short notice. HSBC, QInvest and Standard Chartered are the leads. The issue is expected to be rated Baa3 by Moody's and BBB- by Fitch.

Abu Dhabi government-owned Al Hilal Bank priced its debut $500m five-year sukuk issue, as Gulf issuers flood back to the market to take advantage of conducive market conditions. The transaction priced at par with a profit rate of 3.267 percent and a spread of 170 basis points over midswaps. The spread had tightened significantly from the initial price thoughts, released on Sunday, which had indicated a spread of 190 bps over the benchmark.

Abu Dhabi government-owned Al Hilal Bank will price its debut Islamic bond offering on Tuesday, subject to market conditions, especially the shutdown of the U.S. government. Books are now open for the transaction, with commitments from investors already totalling $2.75 billion. The five-year sukuk will be of benchmark size - traditionally understood to be worth at least $500 million - with initial price guidance set at 190 basis points over midswaps. Al Hilal is due to conclude meetings with fixed-income investors on Monday in London. Citigroup, HSBC, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Standard Chartered are arranging the roadshows, along with Al Hilal itself.

Oman's government may issue an international sovereign bond and an Islamic bond next year, its central bank chief Hamood Sangour al-Zadjali said. He did not provide details on the size of the bonds, however. While Oman aims to develop its fledgling Islamic finance industry, a debut issue of sukuk by the government would be a major step towards that. Zadjali also said Oman planned a domestic issue of government development bonds worth 100 million rials ($260 million) in the fourth quarter of this year. The procedes will be used for development purposes as well as for projects. Oman's banking sector is expected to grow 15-20 percent this year in terms of assets.

Yemen's government may issue a local-currency Islamic bond this year to finance its imports of petroleum products, its central bank governor Mohammed Awad bin Hamam said. The sukuk could be worth about 50 billion Yemeni rials ($233 million) and use a salam structure. The interest rate is expected to be around 10 percent, with a maturity of three or five years. Yemen's recovery plans are heavily dependent on foreign aid, but the recovery is fragile. The International Monetary Fund expected Yemen's gross domestic product to grow around 6 percent this year.

Dubai’s Islamic bonds are the world’s best-performing sovereign dollar sukuk this quarter as the economy of the Arabian Gulf business hub gathers steam, with bank profits, tourist numbers and property prices rising. Dubai’s US$650 million of notes due May 2022 returned 5.3 per cent, the most among 33 Sharia-compliant sovereign bonds tracked by Bloomberg. The average return was 1.3 per cent. Dubai’s CDS, contracts insuring the emirate’s debt against default for five years, fell 86 basis points in the past 12 months to 199. They reached a five-year low of 187 on May 7. Dubai’s economy is set to expand 4.6 per cent, on average, between 2012 and 2015.

Malaysia remains a forerunner in global sukuk with the global outstanding sukuk amounting to over US$148 billion as at June 2013, which represents 60.4 per cent of the total global sukuk. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said credit must be given to Bank Negara Malaysia, the Securities Commission Malaysia, Shariah scholars and the Islamic financial industry community for their efforts to bring Malaysia's Islamic finance marketplace to the current level of sophistication. Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, also pointed out that shortage of qualified experts in Islamic finance was the constraining factor for the innovation of new products and services in most countries.

The $490 million short-term sukuk program issued by the International Liquidity Management Corporation is an important stage in the evolution of Sukuk product, according to Abdulwahab Al-Roshood, Kuwait Treasury General Manager at Kuwait Finance House (KFH). The corporation has recently issued the first issuance for 3 months with the participation of 8 gulf and foreign banks including KFH. The sukuk issued by the corporation enjoys the privilege of being short term, rated as the short- term highest credit rating A-1 by the international Standard and Poor's. Al-Roshood expressed his confidence that KFH 's participation of the corporation's businesses since establishment will add value to its efforts and its role in sukuk market.

Abu Dhabi-based Islamic lender Al Hilal Bank plans to launch a $500m sukuk by the end of the year. The bond is expected to be used for general business purposes such as liquidity management and to form the first tranche of a $2.5bn bond programme.

Saudi dairy firm Almarai is said to be looking to sell Perpetual Sukuk, the first from an issuer in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This will be senior Sukuk that does not mature which means that from a credit point of view it is treated as equity rather than debt. BNP Paribas, HSBC Saudi Arabia, Saudi Fransi Capital and Standard Chartered are said to the joint lead managers for the Perpetual Sukuk. Almarai already sold SAR1.3bn of five- and seven- year Sukuk in March of this year.

Telekom Malaysia will issue a sukuk, of up to 3 billion ringgit ($907.72 million) in nominal value to fund its working capital. Telekom, in which the Malaysian government owns a 68.6 percent stake, is supported by its dominance in the fixed-lined telephone sector and the nation's low penetration rate of 30 percent for household broadband services, said RAM Ratings.

Saudi Arabian food company Almarai plans to sell perpetual Islamic bonds, the first from an issuer in the kingdom. Almarai will meet domestic investors in the next two weeks to privately place of 1.7 billion Saudi riyals of senior sukuk that do not mature. BNP Paribas, HSBC Saudi Arabia, Saudi Fransi Capital and Standard Chartered have been mandated as joint lead managers for the perpetual offering. Almarai, which sold 1.3bn riyals of five- and seven- year sukuk in March, is raising funds for a 15.7bn-riyal four-year investment program. The ability to raise cash without disturbing a company's share structure is a key benefit, therefore this might be especially interesting for the region's family-owned businesses.

Indonesia’s finance ministry sold Rp 1.055 trillion ($96.22 million) of shariah bonds at an auction on Tuesday, with yields mixed. The country sold 700 billion rupiah of 6-month shariah T-bills, at a yield of 6.71615 percent, down from 6.75000 percent on Aug. 20. It also sold 355 billion rupiah of 30-year project-based sukuk, while its yield rose to 9.43750 percent from 9.24943 percent. Total bids were 9.308 trillion rupiah and the highest bid-to-cover ratio was 12.53 from 6-month shariah T-bills.

The total value of new issuances in the Aggregate Gulf Cooperation Council (“GCC”) Bonds and Sukuk market, during the first half of 2013 (“H1 2013”) was USD 45.5 billion, a 4.6% increase in comparisonto the respective period of 2012 (“H1 2012”).