Emirates Islamic first bank in UAE to issue Dirham Sukuk

Emirates Islamic first bank in UAE to issue Dirham Sukuk

DUBAI, 8th February, 2023 (WAM) -- Emirates Islamic, the Islamic subsidiary of Emirates NBD Group, has announced the successful pricing of its inaugural AED 1 billion dirham-denominated sukuk, the first such dirham sukuk issuance by a UAE bank.

The Group’s sukuk sale will expand financing options for UAE corporations with Sharia’a-compliant needs while enhancing the development of the medium-term dirham yield curve.

The three-year issue witnessed robust demand and was oversubscribed 2.5 times. The strong order book, which exceeded AED 2.5 billion dirhams, allowed the bank to tighten the profit rate to 5.05 percent, at a spread of 67 basis points over UAE government treasuries.

The sukuk sale demonstrates Emirates Islamic’s commitment to deepening the liquidity of the local currency sukuk market following the creation of the Ministry of Finance’s medium-term dirham yield curve. The launch of the sukuk follows Emirate NBD’s AED 1 billion bond sale in January.

Salah Amin, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Islamic, said, “Emirates Islamic’s benchmark dirham sukuk further underscores the dirham bond market’s role as a significant and competitively priced source of funding for corporates. The robust demand is also a strong vote of confidence from global Sharia’a-compliant investors and demonstrates the strong appetite for dirham denominated fixed