Emirates Islamic closes $500mln sukuk issuance | ZAWYA MENA Edition

Emirates Islamic closes $500mln sukuk issuance | ZAWYA MENA Edition

Emirates Islamic, an Islamic financial institution based in the UAE, has closed a $500 million five-year sukuk, or shariah-complaint bonds, at a profit rate of 2.082 percent per annum.

The issue, which is part of its $2.5 billion Certificate Issuance Programme, is rated A+ by Fitch, and is listed on NASDAQ Dubai and Euronext Dublin’s Regulated Market, the financial institution said in a statement on Sunday.

The order book came in at $1.2 billion, which was 2.4 times the issuance size. The strong demand, allowed the bank to tighten the spread on the sukuk by 25 basis points from initial guidance, resulting in a profit rate of 2.082 percent per annum, the bank said.

This pricing represents the lowest spread ever paid by a UAE bank since 2008 for a US dollar benchmark public debt issuance, the statement said.