IslamicFinance.de

The moderate Islamists-led government of Tunisia makes plans to issue sukuks worth 1 billion dinars ($634 million) in the coming year. Thus, the country will be using this financial sector for the first time in order to fund public borrowing. Chadli Ayari, the governor of the Central Bank, prompted that the issuance is t be expected at the beginning of 2013. Just as several other government in North Africa, Tunisia has waken up after last year's Arab Spring to see and make use of the strong growth potential in the Islamic banking sector.

Dana Gas PJSC was able to conclude a restructuring deal with sukukholders including BlackRock Inc. (BLK). Thus, the formerly mentioned seizure of its Egyptian energy assets will be averted. The company has reached an in-principle agreement with its creditors, according to which it will convert the Islamic bonds into an ordinary and a convertible sukuk. Sukukholders will receive a partial cash payment as well.

According to a report by KFH-Research, the Sukuk market in October demonstrated a month-on-month decline in terms of issuance of 24.5% to $8.8 billion. However, compared to last year, these figures show an increase of 61.3%. Sukuk issuance in the first ten months of 2012 totaled $112 billion, which is 59.4% higher than the corresponding period last year. It is even already 31.5% higher than the overall issuance in 2011. The expectations for the current year are for the issuance to reach $130 billion.

After its default, Dana Gas has asked creditors for a decision on the liquidation of its US$920 million sukuk (Dh3.37 billion). Locked in last-minute negotiations with a committee of sukuk-holders, Dana discusses a standstill agreement over repaying the bond. The company has made a request to its creditors to declare whether they will seek to dissolve the bond. Such a measure would enable attempts to seize the company's assets, including concessions in Egypt and Sharjah.

This week, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) plans to issue a hybrid sukuk. However, it is likely that investors will demand a big premium for the rare structure. According to expectations, the bank will raise minium $500m to shore up its core capital, complying thus with tighter Basel III global standards. This is a prerequisite for the Tier 1 capital which will be introduced in the UAE in the years to come. ADIB’s Tier 1 sukuk structure is different from the usual instruments to raise Tier 2 capital sold by different Gulf lenders. Firstly, there is no maturity date. Also, the principal is repaid at the discretion of the issuer.

Egypt's Investment Minister - Osama Saleh - announced three days ago that the government discusses the issuance of sukuk in order to redress the state budget deficit. A work group is already formed. It consists of ministries of investments and finance and the Central Bank of Egypt to set Sukuk legal structure. Currently, the ministry is preparing to inaugurate projects affiliated to the public sector in different fields in Upper Egypt.

In a statement, Fitch Ratings announced that it assigned the upcoming USD3bn Perusahaan Penerbit SBSN Indonesia III's (PPSI-III) global certificates (Sukuk), due 2022, a rating of 'BBB-(EXP)'. This rating is in accordance with the expectations. Thus, Fitch's view that the cashflows supporting payment on the Sukuk constitute direct, unconditional, unsecured and general obligations of the Republic of Indonesia are confirmed.

Dana Gas, which announced inability to repay a $920 million sukuk on maturity last week, claims to have no information about any action from bondholders against the company. It is expected that creditors will stake claim to the company's assets in Egypt. In a statement by Dana, it was confirmed that the company is not aware of any enforcement actions against the company by sukukholders. They further added that discussions with the adhoc committee of sukukholders show constructive progress.

Almarai Co, dairy and food producer in Saudi Arabia, has planned the issuance of the second tranche of its riyal-denominated sukuk programme in the coming months. The sukuk is directed towards private investors who are residents of the Kingdom. The first tranche, which was issued in March, was able to raise 1 billion riyals ($266.6 million). Thus, the deal was 4.7 times oversubscribed. The sukuk programme aims to help finance the company's $4.2 billion investment programme to expand its business between 2013 to 2017.

Sukuk sells as high as RM5.3bil are planned by the Finance Ministry aiminig to help the nation’s loss-making carrier buy new aircraft. The sukuk will be under a 20-year programme. Turus Pesawat Sdn Bhd will be responsible for selling the notes, starting marketing this week. The government will purchase six Airbus A380s and two A330s worth RM5.3bil for Malaysian Airlines (MAS). By expanding its fleet, MAS hopes to win back business from AirAsia Bhd.

The jump of Bahrain's sukuk in October resulted in the yield reaching a record and standing out from the neighbour countries. In October, the sukuk fell 65 basis points, or 0.65 percentage point. This is the biggest drop since the start of the trade in March 2010. According to the HSBC/Nasdaq Dubai GCC US Dollar Sukuk Index, this drop got ahead of a 21 basis-point decline to 2.96% in the average yield on sukuk in the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Tilal Development Company turns to Capital Market Authority (CMA) for raising funds by the country's first sukuk issue. According to Abdullah bin Salem Al Salmi, executive president of CMA, they are ready to grant Tilal their approval as soon as the latter are ready with a plan. Al Salmi further added that Islamic financial instruments like sukuk are necessary for Islamic banks in order to invest their deposits. A lack of Islamic debt instruments could result in a deposit growth much higher than the anticipated growth in terms of assets which would make deposit investment very difficult.

Almarai Co, a producer of dairy and food products, announced its intentions of issuing the second tranche of a riyal-denominated sukuk programme. The issuance is to be made in the coming months and is directed towards private investors. The first tranche of the programme brought the company 1 billion riyals ($266.6 million). The investors in the second tranche have to be residents of the Kingdom. The sukuk is to contribute to financing Almarai's $4.2 billion investment programme, the goal of which is the expansion of the company's business between 2013 to 2017.

Dana Gas could not manage to repay a $920 million sukuk on its maturity date. It is suggested that holders of the bond will stake claim to the extensive Egyptian assets of the company. According to an announcement by Dana Gas, they are in talks with bondholders aiming to amend and extend the terms of the sukuk.

Read more on: http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=340947

IslamicFinance.de offers an overview about new job openings of October 2012 herewith - firms aiming to be included please send a job profile/hyperlink to newsdesk@islamicfinance.de - the full details of the advert has to be accessed by the hyperlink below the brief description:

Product Manager, Islamic Banking

Standard Chartered Bank - United Arab Emirates-SCB (United Arab Emirates)
Job Description
?Development of Islamic wealth products across CBMS, insurance and investment streams to create customer value proposition.
?Ensure successful implementation of the Islamic banking strategy across high value segment.
?Concentrated responsibility to work with the Priority/Wealth/Private/SME product/frontline teams and support functions to build on the current Islamic banking capabilities and to create seamless customer experience
?Act as a product specialist for RMs on client meetings to introduce and explain the Saadiq solutions to meet their needs
?Financial budgeting and business forecast. Evaluation of financial performance.

An update on the status of Dana Gas' $1bn Sukuk-al-Mudarabah is made known, the maturity of which was on 31th October at midnight. The discussions with an Ad-hoc Committee of Sukuk holders about amendment terms and extension of the Sukuk are still going on. The desire of amendment and extension is due to the recent liquidity challenges which have resulted from challenging external macro-economic and political circumstances in the region. So far, the company has not paid all of the money due on the maturity date to its Sukuk holders.

Read more on: http://www.zawya.com/story/Dana_Gas_provides_update_on_the_USD1bn_sukuk_...

The government of Hong Kong released the conclusions of a consultation which ended in May 2012. Thus, a taxation framework for Islamic bonds is provided on a par with that for conventional bonds. The promotion of Islamic finance development in Hong Kong has been taken into consideration. Due to Hong Kong's leading role as an international financial centre and China's global financial centre, Hong Kong is able to match the needs of fund raisers and investment demands of investors among China, the Middle East and other parts of the world interested in Islamic financial products. The legislative amendments released are expected to contribute to anchoring more asset management activities in Hong Kong.

Read more on: http://www.tax-news.com/news/Hong_Kong_Releases_Consultation_Conclusions...

TH Plantations Bhd (THP) has made a sukuk murabahah programme worth up to RM1bil in nominal value. The establishment is made together with the Pilgrimage Fund Board. THP made known to Bursa Malaysia that RM200mil of sukuk have been issued as part of the programme. The tenure of the sukuk is up to 15 years with a maturity date Oct 29, 2027.

Read more on: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/10/31/business/12250...

About a year ago, Nakheel issued about AED4bn ($1.09bn) of sukuk to its trade creditors. Some holders were quick to offloaded them on the secondary market being impatient to finally settle their outstanding bills from the company. This led to a crash in the sukuk prices, which reached down to 70% of their value. However, there has been a recovery in prices since then, so that now the price on the secondary market is almost the same as the price when holding the bonds to maturity. In addition, there are annual 10% coupon payments. In spite of the risks associated with Nakheel, this makes the high coupon very appealing.

Read more on: http://www.meed.com/sectors/construction/real-estate/nakheel-creditors-w...

Bank of Khartoum's plans include selling Islamic corporate bonds since after an oil deal with South Sudan the economic outlook for Sudan becomes better. This year's profit of the bank is expected to reach record amounts due to strong lending and a substantial windfall from the devaluation of the Sudanese pound. Several sukuks have already been started. According to the bank's general manager, issues worth $100 million in bonds for local companies are a realistic is a realistic goal to be achieved by early 2013.

Read more on: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/56460/Business/Economy/Suda...