Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim, chairman of Emirates Islamic and Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Emirates NBD Group, rang the market-opening bell Tuesday to celebrate the listing by Emirates Islamic of a $500 million sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai. The bank achieved a profit rate of 1.827%, the lowest for a sukuk issued by a UAE bank for 10 years, with subscription of 2.4 times. The issuance was rated A+ by Fitch Ratings and was placed 41% in the Middle East and North Africa, 28% in Asia, 17% to US offshore investors and 14% in Europe. Al Qassim said, "The very favorable reception from our sukuk investors around the world reflects their strong confidence in Emirates Islamic's sound business fundamentals, active growth strategy and ability to thrive in times of market volatility. Listing our sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai, as the region's international financial exchange, supports our links to investors globally and provides excellent visibility with a trusted regulatory structure." Essa Kazim, governor of Dubai International Financial Centre, secretary general of Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre, and chairman of Dubai Financial Market, said, "Emirates Islamic's latest successful issuance and listing underline both the success of the sukuk sector and the resilient economic performance achieved by the UAE and Dubai in addressing the global challenges that 2020 has brought. Dubai will further expand its leadership role in Sukuk as part of the global capital of the Islamic economy initiative." Emirates Islamic's latest sukuk listed on Nasdaq Dubai on Sept. 23, 2020. It brings the bank's current sukuk value on the exchange to $1.5 billion, following two listings in 2016 of $750 million and $250 million. Abdul Wahed Al Fahim, chairman of Nasdaq Dubai, said, "The Exchange's sukuk market has achieved significant expansion in 2020 with new listings so far totaling $11.9 billion, up 15% from $10.35 billion in the same period last year. We are committed to further promoting capital raising and business growth through sukuk listings for the benefit of issuers, investors and the wider community." The nominal value of sukuk currently listed in Dubai has reached $73.99 billion, one of the largest totals of any listing center in the world. Salah Mohammed Amin, chief executive of Emirates Islamic, said, "The funds raised through our sukuk will accelerate Emirates Islamic's continuing development of our Sharia-compliant services for individuals and small businesses as well as large corporations." Hamed Ali, chief executive of Nasdaq Dubai and Deputy Chief Executive of Dubai Financial Market, said, "The positive reception for Emirates Islamic's sukuk reflects the stature of the bank as one of the world's leading Islamic financial institutions, as well as the growing suitability and versatility of this asset class as a capital raising vehicle." Following Emirates Islamic's latest listing, 46% of sukuk listings in Dubai by value are from UAE issuers and 54% from overseas issuers. — WAM
