Thursday, September 2, 2010

International Finance Corp-oration (IFC), a wing of the World Bank, said yesterday it would list its first Islamic bond in the Middle East.

The IFC Hilal Sukuk, a greenback-denominated $100 million issue with a five-year maturity, will be listed with the Nasdaq Dubai and Bahrain stock exchanges, the US-based corporation said.

“The Sukuk is an innovative way for IFC to create oppor-tunities for Islamic inves-tors who want to make a positive social impact,”
said IFC chief executive Lars Thunell.

“It also supports the World Bank Group’s goals to integrate the Arab world into the global economy and offer greater opportunities for its people,” Thunell said.

The IFC is the first non-Islamic financial institution to issue a Sukuk for term funding in the GCC.

It is also the first Sukuk to be listed and cleared in the GCC market only, a state-ment from the IFC said.

The IFC Sukuk, which has been rated Aaa by global credit rating agency Moody’s, could be listed on both the exchanges next week, a financial source told the AFP News Agency.

The sukuk is aimed at supporting a pipeline of Islamic finance projects in key sectors such as education, health and infrastructure.

A separate body will issue the IFC Sukuk and “ware-house” the underlying assets, the IFC said, adding that the syndicate includes HSBC Amanah, Liquidity Management House, Dubai Islamic Bank and Kuwait Finance House Bahrain.

The Sukuk global asset class has a market value of over $200 billion.

The global Islamic finance industry has grown rapidly to an almost $1 trillion industry. However, it makes up less than one per cent of world capital, giving room for more potential growth.