Today, Friday, a document showed that Egypt appointed banks to sell its first issues of US dollar-denominated sukuk.
The document showed that the main managers and joint bookrunners are Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Citi, Credit Agricole, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank and HSBC.
These banks will start meeting with investors, starting Friday, the document indicated.
This will be followed by the sale of a record size three-year sukuk – usually no less than $500 million – depending on market conditions.
Egypt is seeking to raise up to $1.5 billion next week by issuing dollar sukuk, the country’s first sovereign sukuk issuance. Egypt aims to raise $5 billion in sukuk issuances within six months.
Sources told Al-Arabiya that the yield on the bonds, according to the Ministry of Finance’s calculations before downgrading Egypt’s rating, was between 5.75 and 6.5%, but it was revised after the downgrade to be between 6.5 and 7.5%.
The issuance is expected to have a return of 7%, and it is secured by Egyptian real estate assets, but the sources did not disclose these assets.
The sukuk will be listed on the London Stock Exchange, and approval was obtained last week.
The sources expected that the entire issue would be covered by Gulf institutions.
