Mubasher: Emirates Islamic Bank has closed a $250 million tap of its earlier $750 million 5-year Sukuk that was issued in May 2016. 

This issuance comes under Emirates Islamic’s $2.5 billion Certificate Issuance Programme, according to a recent statement.

The tap generated an order book of $706 million, reflecting solid regional and international investor confidence in the bank.

“The tap was priced at 5Y Mid-swaps +170bps and attracted investment from across GCC, Asia and Europe. The Joint Lead Managers for the transaction were Bank ABC, Dubai Islamic Bank, EMCAP and Standard Chartered Bank,” the statement said.

Earlier in August, Fitch affirmed the bank’s ‘A+’ rating, assigning the bank a Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (LT IDR) of ‘A+’ with a Stable Outlook, Short-Term IDR (ST IDR) of 'F1', and a Viability Rating (VR) at 'bb-'. The ratings agency also affirmed the bank’s Support Rating of '1'.

“The success of this transaction demonstrates the strong investor confidence in our financials and growth outlook as well as the favourable outlook for the UAE economy,” CEO of Emirates Islamic Jamal Bin Ghalaita said.