Middle East Bonds

Bank Muscat is planning the first sukuk ever from an Omani lender, and will issue more than one deal next year, an official at the bank told IFIS.

Low cost Malaysia airline AirAsia is setting up a mudaraba sukuk programme and plans to launch a subordinated perpetual deal.

Israel Electric has mandated Barclays and Citi to arrange a dollar bond. Investor meetings are taking place in Europe and the US on Monday and Tuesday.

The Bank of England (BoE) will begin work next year on how to provide Islamic banks with Shariah compliant liquidity facilities. Even without knowing what rates or requirements the prospective facilities will involve, the UK’s Islamic lenders — long starved of Shariah compliant liquid assets — say anything will be better than holding cash.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) — the UK’s export credit agency — is working on a guarantee structure for a sukuk sale. The deal is likely to appear early next year and could be the sukuk market’s first export credit backed aviation deal, although other aviation lenders are considering their own deals, said bankers.

Dubai Islamic Bank has increased its sukuk holdings rapidly over the last nine month but is still on the hunt for more paper. On its wish list is supply from Africa and South East Asia, two regions into which it is planning to expand.

DIFC Investments — Dubai International Financial Centre’s investment arm — has set roadshow dates, beginning on Thursday, for its second ever benchmark sukuk sale.

Islamic banks in the Gulf Co-operation Council states are suffering from a perception problem, according to a report from Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) published on Tuesday. The firm found that although the banks have huge potential, existing and likely customers often believe that Islamic banks are not true to Shariah values.

Mubadala GE Capital has mandated Barclays and Citi as global co-ordinators and joint lead managers and First Gulf Bank, HSBC, Natixis as joint lead managers for a dollar benchmark 144A bond.

Bahraini financial institution Bahrain Commercial Facilities Co has made a rare visit to the MTN market.

Falah Capital, the only Islamic exchange traded fund (ETF) listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has outperformed broader US market indices in its first week weeks, the company’s chief executive told IFIS. The dearth of passively managed Islamic funds in the US stands in stark contrast to growing appetite for such products, and Falah Capital’s CEO is hoping to watch the fund grow in size several times by the end of the year.

Advanced Petrochemical Co starts investor meetings on Sunday ahead of its first sukuk, and has mandated HSBC Saudi Arabia and Riyad Capital to manage the transaction. But the deal is unlikely to be large enough to help bolster Saudi sukuk supply, which has dropped off sharply after strong issuance in the previous two years.