HSBC Amanah acted as Sole Arranger of a US$5 billion Trust Certificate Programme for Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank ("ADIB") and Sole Lead Manager and Sole Bookrunner for the debut US$800 million 5 year sukuk issue under the programme. The sukuk are rated 'A2' by Moody's and 'A' by Fitch in line with the corporate ratings of ADIB. HSBC's Corporate Trust and Loan Agency acted as Agent for the issue.
The issue size was originally aimed at US$ 400 – US$500 million, but was increased given the strong response from the market in order to accommodate a large number of high quality investors, placing orders of US$1 billion. This being one of the largest books for a corporate, non-equity linked issue.
The transaction appealed to both conventional as well as Islamic institutions, and attracted demand from both pools of liquidity from a wide geographic base. The geographical distribution was very balanced. The Middle East accounted for 50% of the issue, Asia accounted for 12% Europe accounted for 37% and offshore USA 1%. Banks accounted for 58% of the transaction, Fund Managers 31%, Corporates 8%.and others at 3%.
Razi Fakih Acting CEO, HSBC Amanah said: “This is the first rated Trust Certificate Programme by a commercial bank and the largest in size among all trust certificate programmes. The US$800 million sukuk is ADIB's debut debt capital market issue and is the largest bank sukuk ever issued and we are proud to be the sole arranger for it.”
“With the extensive HSBC Group network at our disposal, HSBC Amanah is in a unique position to originate and structure transactions for clients across a range of differing risk and maturity profiles. We have been directly involved in many high profile and innovative cross border Sukuk transactions to date both by quality and quantity; the aggregate value of international sukuk transactions undertaken by HSBC Amanah is US$8.58 billion,” he added.
Mr. Ahmed Darweesh Al Marar, Managing Director at ADIB quoted the transaction as being a “complete success” and “another accolade added to the ADIB platform of accomplishments”.
“This positive achievement comes as an anticipated result of the good credit profile of ADIB, the carefully and efficiently structured Sukuk, and the competency of ADIB’s management along with the loyalty and dedication of all our team members”, he added.
