DOHA, QATAR: Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), rated A1/A-/A (all stable) by Moody’s/Standard & Poor’s/Fitch, successfully priced a US$ 750 million 5-year Sukuk at par with a profit rate of 3.982% (equivalent to a credit spread of 150bps over US$ Mid-Swaps), a notice issued to Qatar Stock Exchange noted.[the_ad id=”31605″]The Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) Sukuk was met with strong investor demand as evidenced by the large orderbook which closed at US$ 3.1 billion, representing an oversubscription rate of 4.1 times. In terms of geography, 46% of the Sukuk was allocated to Asian investors, followed by Middle Eastern investors (23%), Europe (21%) and US/Other (10%). In total, non Middle Eastern investors were allocated 77% of the Sukuk, which is a remarkable outcome and one of the highest international allocations achieved by any bank from the region.
As much as 60% of the investors were fund managers, 26% were banks & private banks and 14% were insurance companies & agencies. More than 140 investors from 28 countries spanning Europe, Asia, USA and the Middle East participated in the Sukuk.
The success of this transaction came on the back of a comprehensive marketing strategy aimed at updating international investors with QIB’s robust credit fundamentals and the strength of Qatar’s economy. Senior members of QIB’s management team met with institutional investors in London, Hong Kong and Singapore over a period of three days prior to pricing the Sukuk. The meetings were well received by investors who took great comfort from the bank’s credit profile and performance over the years.
Bassel Gamal, Group CEO of Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), commented, “This transaction cements the ability of Qatari banks to raise funding from a diverse set of international investors. QIB is proud of the Sukuk’s results and we are very pleased with the success of the transaction, which showcases the confidence investors have in our bank, and more importantly in the State of Qatar.”
Barclays, Barwa Bank, Boubyan Bank, Crédit Agricole CIB, QInvest, QNB Capital and Standard Chartered Bank acted as Joint Lead Managers & Bookrunners on this transaction, with Deutsche Bank as a Co-Manager.
The US$ 750 million Sukuk was a drawdown under QIB’s existing US$ 4.0 billion programme and the Trust Certificates will be listed on the Irish Stock Exchange (Euronext Dublin).