Dubai’s Sobha Realty expected to raise $300mln with debut sukuk

Dubai’s Sobha Realty expected to raise $300mln with debut sukuk

DUBAI - Dubai-based real estate developer Sobha Realty is expected to raise $300 million through a debut sale of Islamic bonds, a bank document showed on Monday. The sukuk will be sold at a yield of 8.75%, the lower end of initial guidance earlier on Monday of 8.75-8.875%, after drawing orders of more than $600 million, the document from one of the arranging banks said. Sobha Realty is mainly active in Dubai's real estate market, where it had an 8% market share in the first quarter, according to a presentation on its website. As of March 30, the firm had 180 million dirhams ($49.01 million) of debt maturing this year, 171 million dirhams next year, 1.34 billion dirhams due in 2025 and 106 million due in 2026, the presentation showed. The company was founded by its chair PNC Menon in 1976 as an interior design business in Oman, and has developments in the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Brunei and India, according to its website. Menon and other family members are majority owners of Sobha Ltd, a Mumbai-listed business. ($1 = 3.6724 UAE dirham) (Reporting by Yousef Saba; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Jan Harvey)