$750m sukuk, Saudi developer closes 1st tranche

Bank Alkhair has announced the successful close of the first tranche of a $ 750 million sukuk program established by Dar Al Al-Arkan Real estate Development Company (Dar Al-Arkan), a major residential real estate developer in Saudi Arabia. Bank Alkhair jointly led the sukuk program, which is based on the Islamic Wakala structure. The program was established to fund Dar Al-Arkan’s current and upcoming development projects. Bank Alkhair also acted as the Shariah adviser of the program. The first issue, a benchmark sized, 5-year, Regulation S issue (Reg S), was offered to the market on May 20. The sukuk, which offers investors a coupon of 5.75 percent, received an overwhelming response from regional and international investors and was significantly oversubscribed. Dar Al-Arkan opted to close the first issue at $ 450 million on May 21, despite it being almost 4 times oversubscribed, with overall book order reaching up to $ 1.68 billion. Bank Alkhair, Deustche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Emirates NBD Capital were the joint bookrunners of the transaction. Commenting on the successful close of the first tranche, Ikbal Daredia, head of Bank Alkhair’s global capital markets division, said: "The oversubscription of the issue demonstrates increasing investor appetite for sukuk and for quality issuers like Dar Al-Arkan." Yousef Al-Shelash, chairman of Dar Al-Arkan, said: "The success of this sukuk issue is a testament to investor confidence in Dar Al-Arkan’s solid business model and Saudi Arabia’s robust economy." Standard & Poor's Ratings Service is expected to assign a rating of "B+" to the issue. Standard & Poor’s recently affirmed Dar Al-Arkan’s B+ credit rating and revised its outlook to positive from stable due to the company’s resilient operating performance. The sukuk, which was issued through the Dar Al-Arkan Sukuk Company Ltd., marks Dar Al-Arkan's fourth international sukuk issue to date. Source: ArabNews