Flydubai celebrated the listing of the airline’s $500 million (Dh1.84 billion) inaugural sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai.

Ghaith Al Ghaith, chief executive officer of flydubai, today (January 14) rang the market-opening bell, for the 18th sukuk to have listed on the exchange since the beginning of last year, supporting Dubai’s rapid expansion as the global capital of the Islamic economy, said a statement.

The emirate is one of the three largest venues in the world for sukuk listings, with current nominal value on its two exchanges totalling $24.05 billion.

Essa Kazim, secretary general of Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC) and chairman of Dubai Financial Market (DFM), said: “The issuance and listing of flydubai’s sukuk demonstrates the important role being played by the Islamic capital markets in supporting Dubai’s growth as a global aviation centre.”

“In 2009, flydubai set out to build a world-class, affordable airline that provided passengers a higher level of service and facilitated increased travel to and from the UAE for business, tourism and trade,” said Al Ghaith.

“Given that five years on we now operate 1,400 flights per week to 89 destinations our financing needs have evolved and this Sukuk enables us to further build upon our achievements. Nasdaq Dubai, with its first class regulatory framework, has provided us with greater exposure to global fixed income investors and significantly contributed to the success of our issuance.”​

The sukuk saw a geographic distribution of 64 per cent to Middle East accounts, 25 per cent to European accounts, seven per cent to Asia, and four per cent to US offshore, said the statement.

Hamed Ali, chief executive of Nasdaq Dubai, said: “The exchange will provide flydubai and the investors in its sukuk with the responsive environment they expect on a first-class listing platform. Nasdaq Dubai is in contact with a substantial number of potential issuers inside and outside the region who wish to list sukuk in 2015 and beyond to meet their capital-raising needs.” - TradeArabia News Service