Emirates Islamic lists $500m sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai

Dubai’s Emirates Islamic successfully listed a $500m sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai on September 23, 2020.

On Monday, October 6, Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim, chairman of Emirates Islamic and vice chairman and managing director of Emirates NBD Group, rang the market-opening bell to celebrate the listing.

It achieved a profit rate of 1.827 per cent, the lowest for a sukuk issued by a UAE bank for 10 years, with a subscription of 2.4 times.

The issuance was rated A+ by Fitch Ratings and included a diverse investor base of 41 per cent in the Middle East and North Africa, 28 per cent in Asia, 17 per cent to US offshore investors and 14 per cent in Europe.

“Listing our sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai, as the region’s international financial exchange, supports our links to investors globally and provides excellent visibility with a trusted regulatory structure,” said Al Qassim.

The latest listing brings the bank’s current sukuk value on the exchange to $1.5bn, following two listings in 2016 of $750m and $250m.

With the Emirates Islamic listing, the nominal value of sukuks listed on Nasdaq Dubai has reached $73.99bn, placing it among the world’s top sukuk centres.

Around 46 per cent of sukuk listings in Dubai by value are from UAE issuers, while the remaining 54 per cent are from overseas issuers.

Read: DP World lists $1.5bn sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai

“The Exchange’s sukuk market has achieved significant expansion in 2020 with new listings so far totaling $11.9bn, up 15 per cent from $10.35bn in the same period last year,” added Hamed Ali, chief executive of Nasdaq Dubai and deputy chief executive of Dubai Financial Market.