The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), an arm of the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank, said it would lead manage a 300 billion CFA franc ($480 million) Islamic bond programme for Ivory Coast.

The programme would issue Ivory Coast's first sovereign sukuk in order to finance development projects. It will be conducted in two equal phases of 150 billion CFA francs and extend from 2015 to 2020, the ICD said in a statement.

As lead manager, the ICD will structure the sukuk programme, appoint and coordinate other consultants, liaise with government officials and oversee the entire process of the offer, it said.

A series of African countries is entering the sukuk market to take advantage of rising demand for Islamic paper among investors in the Middle East and southeast Asia.

Senegal and South Africa issued their first sukuk last year, while Niger's government plans to establish an Islamic bond programme worth 150 billion CFA francs and Nigeria has been considering an issue.

The ICD is playing a major role in helping countries enter the market; for example, it will provide technical assistance to Niger. Least week, the ICD said it would support a debut issue of sukuk by Jordan.-Reuters