Emaar Properties plans to issue benchmark sukuk as #Dubai real estate market improves | The National

Emaar Properties plans to issue benchmark sukuk as Dubai real estate market improves | The National

Emaar Properties, the UAE's biggest listed property developer by market capitalisation, plans to issue a new benchmark sukuk.

The company appointed Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Mashreq Bank and Standard Chartered Bank as joint lead arrangers for a global investor call and a series of one-to-one and group meetings with fixed income investors, it said in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market, where its shares trade.

"A benchmark US dollar ... senior unsecured sukuk with a 10-year tenor under Emaar Properties' $2 billion Trust Certificate Issuance Programme may follow subject to market conditions," it said.

A benchmark bond or sukuk is generally classed as a debt issuance of at least $500 million.

Bond issuances by Gulf entities are expected to be around $125m this year, in line with last year's total, according to emerging markets specialist Franklin Templeton.