Emirates Islamic Bank raises $1.5b in sukuk

Emirates Islamic Bank, a unit of Emirates NBD, received $1.5 billion (Dh5.50 billion) in bids for its $500 million five-year Islamic bond, according to a banker familiar with the deal. The issue, which closed on Tuesday, received orders from 106 investors, according to the banker, who declined to be identified because the information is private. The sukuk, the bank's first since 2007, was priced to yield 350 basis points over the benchmark mid-swap rate, or at 4.718 per cent, the person said. Fifty-seven per cent of the sukuk was sold in the Middle East, 29 per cent in Asia and 14 per cent in Europe. Banks bought 61 per cent of the bonds, fund managers 24 per cent, private banks five per cent, while pension, insurance and others took up the rest. Tamweel Tamweel may price its Islamic bond at about 400 basis points over the mid-swap rate, three investors familiar with the deal said. Tamweel plans to raise $300 million from the sale of five-year bonds, said the bankers, declining to be identified because the information is private. Saudi Aramco Saudi Aramco's trading subsidiary for refined products started commercial operations on January 1, state oil giant said yesterday. Saudi Aramco Products Trading Co (Aramco Trading) will replace the Product Sales and Marketing Department (PSMD) in importing and exporting refined petroleum products, it said in a statement posted on its website. Aramco Trading, whose formation was first announced in February 2011, will start with 80 employees and will be based in Dhahran. It will be in charge of refined oil products transactions, including condensate, naphtha, gasoline, middle distillate fuels, fuel oil and residual products and bulk petrochemical products, the company said. PCI Paints and Chemical Industries (PCI) Co., Egypt's biggest publicly traded paint manufacturer, said it plans start exporting to new markets in Africa and the Middle East in the fiscal year that starts in July. The company will target markets including Saudi Arabia and South Africa, it said in a statement to the Egyptian bourse yesterday. It said it resumed exports to Libya and is targeting 20 per cent of that North African country's paints market, it said. Bank Al Jazira Bank Al Jazira said on Tuesday it swung to a fourth-quarter net profit of 110 million Saudi riyals from a 27 million riyals net loss a year earlier, helped by lower operating expenses and higher revenue from core banking activities. Total operating income for the quarter rose 26 per cent to 330 million riyals from 262 million riyals, the bank said in a statement on the website of the Saudi stock exchange. Sinopec Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao may attend next week's signing of a contract between China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec), and Saudi Arabian Oil Co. to build a refinery in Yanbu on the Red Sea coast. Wen's schedule is still being finalised, but the premier could attend the January 14 signing at Saudi Aramco's headquarters in Dhahran, according to Zhai Jun, vice foreign minister in charge of Africa and the Middle East. The Yanbu refinery deal is one of at least two energy deals expected to be announced during the premier's trip to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, Zhai added. 1Malaysia Development 1Malaysia Development Bhd, a state-owned development company, may sell Islamic bonds to partly fund the construction of an $8 billion financial district in the capital Kuala Lumpur. "We have a two billion ringgit ($636 million) bridging loan coming due in 2013 and are looking at all options," Chief Executive Officer Shahrol Halmi said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. "We may sell medium-term Sharia-compliant notes if conditions are conducive." 1MDB is jointly developing the so-called Kuala Lumpur International Financial District with Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Corp, said Shahrol.