Sharjah Islamic Bank Returns to Sukuk Market with $400 million Deal

Sharjah Islamic Bank  returned to the international Sukuk market for the first time since its 2006 inaugural issuance. The transaction was oversubscribed by more than nine times.The $400 million, fixed-rate Sukuk certificates, which are due in 2016 yielded 4.715% annually. The structure comprises the sale and purchase of non-real-estate-based ijara assets by the trustee, which are then managed by Sharjah Islamic as the trustee's agent and the certificateholders.The Sukuk certificates were assigned a rating of 'BBB+' by Fitch Ratings and 'BBB+' by Standard & Poor’s and were globally distributed with demand from investors in the Middle East, Asia and Europe.Th offering's joint lead managers were HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank and Liquidity House. The co-lead managers were Qatar Islamic Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Qatar First Investment Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank and Al Hilal Bank PJSC. Clifford Chance was the issuing bank's adviser on the deal.