The International Finance Corp (IFC), the World Bank's lender to the private sector, has received a preliminary AAA rating from Standard & Poor's for a proposed $100 million issuance of sukuk, or Islamic bonds.

Proceeds of the sukuk would be used to purchase a portfolio of diversified sharia compliant receivables and other assets, the credit rating agency said in a statement.

The transaction would match the size of the last sukuk issued by IFC in 2009, a five-year deal which was listed on the Dubai and Bahrain bourses.

In June, the IFC said it planned to return to the Islamic capital markets later this year, which would be the third time the World Bank's development division issues sukuk.

Its first sukuk came in 2004 in Malaysia, a 500 million Malaysian ringgit ($134 million) three-year deal.

The latest sukuk from IFC would rank on the same level as other senior unsecured financial obligations from the multilateral lender, S&P said.  - Reuters