flydubai raises $500m in 5-year Sukuk

Dubai Aviation Corporation, also known as flydubai, on Thursday said its US$500 million debut sukuk was oversubscribed over 6 times, indicating strong investor appetite.
The five-year sukuk was priced at a profit rate of 3.776 per cent, equivalent to 200 basis points over the mid-swaps. About 150 investors placed orders worth US$3 billion (Dh11 billion).
"The highly successful offering demonstrates the confidence which international investors place in the Emirate of Dubai and its entities and confirms the access to funding which our corporates enjoy from the Islamic capital markets.
Investors' strong interest resulted in the order book reaching to over US$3 billion, over 6 times of the offer amount. This is a highly successful result that further confirms the credibility of flydubai and the investors' confidence in the promising outlook for flydubai, and Dubai's status as a leading global aviation hub," Sheikh Ahmad bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman and CEO of Emirates Airline and Group, and Chairman of flydubai, said in a statement.
"The outcome is a testament to the invaluable support provided by the Government of Dubai to our institution and the wider industry, and part of the ongoing visionary leadership of Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum," Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed added.
"Orders were received from a wide range of high quality fixed income investors, including fund managers, private banks, and banks from a wide geographic spread across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and offshore US. The high-quality and diversified order book enabled flydubai to price the transaction at a very tight spread, after two price revisions," said flydubai.
The sukuk issuance saw a geographic distribution of 64% to Middle East accounts, 25% to European accounts, 7% to Asia, and an additional 4% to US offshore.
In terms of types of investors, the sukuk issuance saw a diverse allocation with 65% to banks, 20% to fund managers, 8% to private banks and an additional 7% going to other types of investors.
Credit Agricole, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD, HSBC, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Noor Bank and Standard Chartered are the arrangers for the sukuk sale.