Abu Dhabi-based Al Hilal Bank's debut $500 million sukuk was oversubscribed several times and topped $4.75 billion, said a statement from the bank.

The sukuk was issued at par with 3.267 per cent semi-annual profit rate with a spread of 170 bps over the US dollar at 5-year mid swaps (MS), it said.

Al Hilal, Citigroup, HSBC, NBAD and Standard Chartered Bank acted as joint-lead managers and joint bookrunners, with BIBD, Maybank IB, SIB and UNB acting as co-managers, said the statement.

Bookbuilding began on September 29 with the release of initial price thoughts at MS + 190bps area at Middle East open, it said.

On October 1, a final price guidance of MS + 170bps was released to investors and the deal was priced at the final price guidance.

Despite considerable volatility in the international market, Al Hilal was able to take advantage of the resilience of the sukuk market and the strong pent-up demand for quality issuers among Islamic investors to successfully price a transaction, said the statement.

Al Hilal’s senior management team undertook a series of fixed-income investor meetings in key financial centres such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and London, as part of its marketing strategy.

The geographical distribution of the issue was 37 per cent to the UAE, 21 per cent to the rest of the Middle East, 22 per cent to Asia, 17 per cent to Europe, and 3 per cent to US offshore investors.

Banks subscribed to 48 per cent of the issue while the remaining distribution by investor type was funds 31 per cent, sovereign and supra national agencies 13 per cent, private banks 4 per cent and insurance funds 4 per cent.

The Trust Certificates will be listed on the Irish Stock Exchange under Al Hilal’s $2.5 billion Trust Certificate Programme. - TradeArabia News Service