Middle East Bonds
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Sukuk issuance has passed last year’s first half total after a busy second quarter compensated for a slow start to the year. The volumes were aided by a rare international perpetual sukuk from Al Hilal and the United Kingdom government’s debut deal, both placed in the last week before Ramadan. -
Insurance company XL Group has extended its support for Cobalt Underwriting, a Shariah compliant managing general agency, with cover for financial lines products spanning financial institutions, professional indemnity and managing liability.
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The final push to issue bonds and sukuk before the start of Ramadan next week saw Albaraka Turk price $350m of five year sukuk this week, capping off a run of dollar sukuk and Turkish deals in June.
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United Arab Emirates bank Al Hilal reopened the region’s dollar tier one market this week with an aggressively priced debut $500m perpetual sukuk — the first of its kind in the market for over a year, and at one of the tightest ever yields.
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Turkiye Finans has issued a five year MR800m ($249m) sukuk as the first tranche of a MR3bn sukuk programme, making it the first Turkish participation bank to borrow in the ringgit market.
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Tunisia has upgraded its local currency sukuk plans this summer and instead will begin preliminary meetings with international investors at the end of August to discuss a debut sovereign dollar deal.
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Al Hilal’s additional tier one perpetual sukuk drew big demand on Tuesday and set a template for further deals of its kind. Not everyone was convinced that the aggressive price compensated for what was essentially equity risk, but while the doubters may rue missing out this time, investors should carefully heed the warnings they have raised.
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United Arab Emirates bank Al Hilal reopened the region’s dollar tier one market this week with an aggressively priced debut $500m perpetual sukuk — the first of its kind in the market for over a year, and at one of the tightest ever yields.
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The National Bank of Abu Dhabi has hired Gary Dugan as global private bank chief investment officer and head of investment strategy.
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United Arab Emirates bank Al Hilal’s tier one perpetual sukuk has rallied in secondary trading despite having set a price on Tuesday that was one of the tightest ever for a deal of its kind and too aggressive for some investors.
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Sberbank has signalled a reopening if not a renaissance for the Russian Eurobond market with a €1bn debut deal. Gazprombank is next in line and VTB has its eyes on a September sale. The restart in Russian issuance comes as inaugural and long-lost issuers from across CEEMEA move to take advantage of a superb market backdrop.
