Saudi’s Islamic Development Bank lists $1.5bn sustainability sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai

Saudi Arabia’s Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has listed a $1.5bn sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai and will use the capital raised to support Covid-19 relief initiatives including funding medical, social and business projects among the bank’s 57 member countries.

The sukuk is the second to be issued under IsDB’s Sustainable Finance Framework, following its debut green sukuk last year, and the first ever AAA-rated sustainability sukuk in addition to being the first Covid-19 related sukuk in the global capital markets, Nasdaq Dubai said in a statement on its website.

Earlier this year, Nasdaq Dubai confirmed that IsDB had also listed a five-year $2bn sukuk on the exchange.

Read: Saudi Arabia’s Islamic Development bank lists $2bn sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai

The latest listing now brings the number of IsDB sukuk listed on the exchange to 12 with a total value of $16.14bn.

“Our debut sustainability sukuk issuance will play a vital role in social projects that improve healthcare facilities, equipment and critical staffing in member countries to mitigate the effects of Covid-19, as well as support small and medium-sized businesses and promote employment as countries recover from the effects of the disease,” said Dr. Bandar Hajjar, president of IsDB.

“The competitive profit rate of 0.908 per cent that we achieved reflects strong market confidence in our issuance and we look forward to further expanding our sustainable financing activities, including developing our cooperation with Nasdaq Dubai as the region’s international financial exchange,” added Hajjar.

Nasdaq Dubai also hosted IsDB’s first green sukuk, an EUR1bn instrument issued in December 2019, under the bank’s Sustainable Finance Framework.

“IsDB is playing an important role in the expansion of Nasdaq Dubai as a listing venue of choice for capital markets issuances that meet Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria. We are preparing further initiatives to support the ESG sector and look forward to welcoming many more such issuances from a range of public and private sector institutions,” said Hamed Ali, chief executive of Nasdaq Dubai.

This listing brings the total value of sukuk listed in Dubai to $70.79bn, making the emirate one of the largest sukuk listing centres in the world by value.

Last week, Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) too listed a five-year $500m sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai that was subscribed 7.2 times by regional and international investors.

Read: Sharjah Islamic Bank lists $500m sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai