Dubai Islamic Bank’s (DIB) wholly-owned investment banking arm, Millennium Capital Limited, said that it has arranged over Dh20 billion ($5.44 billion) of sukuk and syndication transactions since the beginning of this year.

DIB has risen to second place in the GCC Islamic Bonds League Tables, up from sixth place in 2007, according to the Bloomberg Underwriter Rankings published in June 2008.

The largest GCC-based banks such as DIB, the world’s first Islamic bank, have seen increasing competition from the leading global investment banking firms for a share in this fast-growing Sharia-compliant market space.

Despite the stiff competition, DIB has successfully managed to further strengthen its leadership position in this sector, said a top DIB official. 
 
Khaled Kamda, group managing director & CEO, Dubai Islamic Bank, said UAE issuers such as DIB continued to receive a strong response from the markets.

'Since the successful Dh7.5 billion ($2.04 billion) closure of the first-rated sukuk for the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai in November 2007, DIB has continued to play the lead role in channeling the vast liquidity of the region into the sukuk and syndication market,' he explained.

'This channeling has improved asset allocation and provided scale and depth to the domestic capital markets in a very meaningful way,' he added.
 
Since the beginning of the year, within the UAE, DIB has acted as lead manager, arranger and book runner on over 90 per cent of all sukuk transactions within the market, as well as over 60 per cent of Islamic syndication transactions.

“In addition, DIB is currently executing several significant transactions and expects to successfully conclude these transactions shortly,” said Saad Zaman, deputy CEO of Millennium Capital Limited.

“The success of DIB's investment banking business is predicated on strong origination, structuring and a distribution track record that has served it well in deepening its already close customer relationships.”

DIB has had many firsts in the sukuk industry, such as the first sukuk with equity warrants, the first convertible sukuk, the first musharaka sukuk, the first sukuk under the EMTN program and the first dirham-denominated sukuk.

According to Zaman, the overall suite of investment banking products continues to see strong demand from DIB’s client base.

Increases in outbound cross-border activity have provided DIB with significant business opportunities, focusing in areas such as infrastructure, financial services and real estate.

Building on its asset management platform and the success of its asset-backed funds, DIB plans to continue rolling out new funds. The Sharia-compliant funds are based in several regions and cover several asset classes, including aviation, shipping and real estate.

'Private equity is another area where DIB is keen to expand and create new successes within its investment banking platform. Recently, DIB and Millennium Capital partnered with Global Investment House of Kuwait to launch a $500 million Islamic buyout fund,' Zaman noted.

“This is the first of an expected series of future private equity funds that will target different asset types and regions to provide investors with a wide range of private equity investment options,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service