Emirates Islamic (“EI” or the “Bank”), one of the leading Islamic financial institutions in the UAE, announced that it has successfully closed a US$ 500 million 5-year Sukuk issued from its US$ 2.5 billion Certificate Issuance Programme.

The landmark issuance, rated A+ by Fitch, is listed on NASDAQ Dubai and Euronext Dublin’s Regulated Market. Investors showed strong appetite which resulted in an order book that peaked at USD$ 1.2 billion, which was 2.4 times the issuance size. This strong demand, from a global investor base, enabled the Bank to tighten the spread on the sukuk by 25 basis points from initial guidance, resulting in a profit rate of 2.082% per annum. This pricing represents the lowest spread ever paid by a UAE bank since 2008 for a US$ benchmark public debt issuance, further reiterating the Bank’s strong appeal to investors.

The transaction reopened the debt capital markets for regional issuers following a period of volatility, demonstrating a strong leadership from Emirates Islamic.

“Emirates NBD Capital” and “Standard Chartered Bank” acted as Global Coordinators and were joined by “Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank P.J.S.C.”, “Arab Banking Corporation (B.S.C.)”, “Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC”, “HSBC Bank plc”, “The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector” and “KFH Capital Investment Company K.S.C.C.” as Joint Lead Managers and Joint Bookrunners. “Kuwait International Bank” acted as Co-Manager.

Commenting on the sukuk issue, Salah Amin, Chief Executive Officer, Emirates Islamic, said, “We are extremely pleased and proud in taking a leadership role in reopening the regional Sukuk/debt capital markets. The oversubscription and tight pricing of the issue demonstrates the strong investor confidence in our financials and growth outlook as well as the favourable outlook for the UAE economy. The response from regional and global investors has been tremendous and we see this as a positive endorsement of the Bank’s credit strength and investor proposition.”