Kuveyt Turk Katilim Bankasi, the Islamic lender majority held by Kuwait Finance House, plans to launch a three-year, $100 million Islamic bond sale in the first half of August, sources said on Monday.

Kuwait's Liquidity Management House and Citibank are lead arrangers for the deal, the two sources said, while law firm Norton Rose is structuring the transaction.

The company is currently roadshowing in London and will also meet potential investors in Dubai later this week, the sources added.

Sukuk are known as participation certificates and Islamic banks are called participation banks in Turkey, which is careful to preserve its secular stance on politics and finance. Kuveyt Turk's issue would be the first sukuk offering out of Turkey.

'Kuveyt Turk is interested in putting out feelers for this market,' said one of the sources. 'They want to be the first to set the benchmark.'

Fitch Ratings assigned a BBB- rating on the expected sukuk issue on Sunday, saying the rating was in line with Kuveyt Turks's long-term foreign currency issuer default rating.

Investor appetite for Turkish paper has been increasing in recent days, with Akbank's $1 billion offering earlier in July.

While sukuk has been uncharted territory in Turkey, one source said that demand is increasing from corporates and more sukuk issues are likely in the coming months. – Reuters