Dubai Islamic Bank successfully closes USD 500 mln Sukuk issuance

Dubai Islamic Bank returned to the international debt capital markets with a very successful US$ 500 million 5Y Sukuk issue yesterday.  This deal is the first GCC bank issuance since November 2015 and essentially marks the reopening of the market after a hiatus of 4+ months. The transaction is being hailed as a tremendous accomplishment in the current environment where the GCC has gone through a well-documented change in onshore liquidity conditions and witnessed multiple rating downgrades, which have been mainly the result of the drop in oil prices. 

Commenting on the deal, DIB’s Group CEO Dr. Adnan Chilwan said “We are delighted with the success of the deal especially in light of recent market conditions.  DIB is a frequent issuer in the international debt capital markets and therefore we view it as our responsibility to tap the markets at an opportune time with the right offering to not only achieve our own funding objectives but also to help reopen the markets for our peer banks in the UAE and the wider GCC.” 

“With nearly 40% demand coming from markets other than GCC, this is a clear indication of the growing global investor confidence in Dubai Islamic Bank and the ability of the entity to successfully perform and pursue quality growth in an environment which many others view as highly challenging”, he added. “We have been consistently outperforming the market over the last two years and remain confident on sustaining our financial performance going forward as well.” 

The offering was significantly oversubscribed (2.4x) attracting more than USD 1.2bn in demand from 87 varied and high quality investors with a well-diversified geographical distribution comprising 62% MENA, 20% UK/Europe and 18% Asia. The tremendous investor interest allowed DIB to tighten pricing from initial price thoughts of 5Y MS+245bps to +230bps.