Dubai Electricity & Water Authority powered back into the sukuk market this week, pricing a $1bn five year benchmark deal inside the Dubai sovereign curve and achieving in excess of $5.5bn of orders.

Middle East sukuk issuance is set to continue to grow and investor demand will grow with it, said senior bankers at an Islamic finance event this week. But regulators and policymakers must do more to help increase the number of non-bank financial institutions if this growth is to be sustainable, warned buyside officials.

Dubai Electricity & Water Authority has priced a $1bn five year benchmark sukuk at a 3% profit rate. Leads launched the dollar denominated ijara (asset leasing) deal on Thursday morning, having tightened from it from earlier guidance in the 3.125% area. "This is bang on what I was expecting," said one UAE based portfolio manager. "Three percent is tight relative to the conventional Dewa '20s — adjusted for longer duration, which trades at a big price premium, but then this is a sukuk." In spread terms, Dewa's sukuk came in at 207.2bp over mid-swaps, or 223.4bp over US Treasuries. The manager noted that the Dubai 2017-dated sukuk trades at a z-spread of around 223bp. Dewa's extra duration puts the new deal in line with this paper. "Add 76bp for the five year swap and you get to 2.99%," he said. London books for the Dewa sukuk went subject at the close of business on Wednesday, with the Middle East and Asia following on Thursday morning. State-owned utility company Dewa asked Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank , Citi, Dubai Islamic Bank , Emirates NBD , Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered to arrange the sale. It is only the second international sukuk out of the Gulf in 2013. There was a $750m 10 year tranche from the Dubai government last month. Dewa held meetings this week with investors in London and Kuala Lumpur. Those finished on Wednesday.

Karachi, February 27, 2013: JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company Limited (JCR-VIS) has reaffirmed the medium to long-term entity rating of Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) at ‘AAA’ (Triple A) and short-term entity rating at ‘A-1+’ (A One Plus). Outlook on the assigned rating is ‘Stable’.

Manama, Bahrain: ABC Islamic Bank today announced that its net profit for the year ending 2012 was US$8.3 million, compared to US$8.1 million last year.

ABC Islamic Bank has reported an $8.3m net profit for 2012, up slightly from 2011's $8.1m. The bank's total operating income was $16m, 6% higher than the prior year's $15.1m.