Middle East Bonds

It is a fine testament to the growing stature of Islamic finance that various novel borrowers are pressing ahead to issue international sukuk for the first time — the likes of Hong Kong, Luxembourg and Dogus Group among them. But with so many debuts revving up to join an autumnal convoy, those that can beat the traffic are advised to do so.

European banks are so anxious to comply with US sanctions law that in some cases, they are interpreting the rules more strictly than US banks, and even occasionally losing business by it, several bankers said this week. Jon Hay and Michael Turner report.

Year to date CEEMEA sovereign bond volumes are at their highest level ever, with the total sold so far already soaring past some analysts’ full year predictions. Issuance is less than $20bn off the record set in 2012, and with Macedonia and Bahrain adding themselves to the list of CEE and African sovereign deals still expected, 2014 could easily become the new benchmark for sovereign supply, said analysts.

With the first half of the year completed, regular IFIS league table topper HSBC has taken a commanding lead in dollar sukuk for share of total issuance value, but Emirates NBD and JP Morgan have surged up the ranks for first ever top five placings, with ENBD on more dollar deals in the period than any other bank. Meanwhile, CIMB has opened a gap in global sukuk arranging after trailing Maybank at this time last year, but the competition looks set to heat up further in the second half.

The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corp is set to re-issue $860m of commercial paper style sukuk next week – its seventh issue to date under its short term sukuk programme.

The Kingdom of Bahrain has mandated three banks for an international bond, according to a banker away from the deal.

With the first half of the year completed, regular IFIS league table-topper HSBC has taken a commanding lead in dollar sukuk for share of total issuance value, but Emirates NBD and JP Morgan have surged up the ranks for first ever top five placings, with ENBD on more dollar deals in the period than any other bank. Meanwhile, CIMB has opened a gap in global sukuk arranging after trailing Maybank at this time last year, but the competition looks set to heat up further in the second half.

It is a fine testament to the growing stature of the Islamic finance market that various novel borrowers are pressing ahead with plans to issue international sukuk for the first time — the likes of Hong Kong, Luxembourg and Dogus Group among them. But with so many debut deals revving up to join an autumnal convoy, those that can beat the traffic are advised to do so.

The government of Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates’ third biggest economy, will issue its first ever sovereign sukuk in September or October, according to market rumours and a banker with knowledge of the matter.

It is a fine testament to the growing stature of the Islamic finance market that various novel borrowers are pressing ahead with plans to issue international sukuk for the first time — the likes of Hong Kong, Luxembourg and Dogus Group among them. But with so many debut deals revving up to join an autumnal convoy, those that can beat the traffic are advised to do so.

Overall CEEMEA supply this year may be down almost $25bn on the same time in 2013, but second quarter issuance was only slightly shy of the total sold over the same period last year. The healthy pick-up in issuance allowed some bookrunners — including Deutsche and HSBC — to redress a sluggish start to the year but the top trio of Citi, JP Morgan and Barclays remained in place.

Garanti Bank sold a €500m five year bond on Tuesday in line with initial price thoughts — an unusual event in CEEMEA where pricing is typically tightened. But a syndicate official on the note said he was pleased with the result, and one away from the deal said Garanti’s generosity may have been necessary after a string of Turkish bank deals in the last month.