As a result of overwhelming investor response, the size of the Islamic bond issue of property giant Nakheel has been raised from $2.5 billion to $3.52 billion following strong investor interest.
The issue had reportedly attracted subscriptions worth $6 billion, said Jean-Marc Le Jeune, a director at Barclays Capital, according to Gulf News. It had been priced at 120 basis points over Libor, midway through its indicated range of 95 to 145 basis points.
"When you begin an issue like this it is always very difficult to know what the demand will be. We expected to have a deal of more than $2.5 billion but we wanted to be a bit cautious," Le Jeune said.
"We got $6 billion so we decided to increase the transaction. The client is happy since the deal is at the mid-range of what we announced originally."
The sukuk, now the world's biggest Islamic bond after inching ahead of the $3.5 billion offering by group company Ports Customs and Free Zone Corp earlier this year, will list on the Dubai International Financial Exchange on December 14.
Nakheel is currently building Dubai's iconic Palm islands.
