Tatarstan’s Ak Bars opens Islamic market to CIS issuers

Ak Bars Bank has become the first Russian financial institution to achieve a Sharia-compliant international financing, closing a $60m debut syndicated murabaha (asset sale and purchase) after attracting around $100m of orders. Tatarstan’s leading bank priced the one-year deal at Libor plus 230bp — roughly in line with Ak Bars’ international borrowing levels and competitive with secondary trading.