Saad sukuk holders left hanging on payments

A unit of Saad Group has so far left holders of a $650 million sukuk in the dark on whether it will make the next coupon payment, the sukuk's trustee said on Tuesday.

Sukuk, or Islamic bonds, are a key market of the emerging $1 trillion Islamic finance industry that has been hit by the global liquidity freeze.

Issuance fell 56 percent to $14.9 billion in 2008, and the market received a further blow this year when the first sukuk defaulted.