Dubai Islamic Bank To Boost Capital Through Sukuk Sale

Dubai Islamic Bank, the largest sharia-compliant lender in the emirate, plans to boost its capital through a sharia-compliant debt instrument, the lender said on Tuesday.

The bank will hold investor meetings in Asia, Middle East and Europe starting March 7 ahead of issuing the dollar-denominated, benchmark-sized hybrid sukuk, subject to market conditions.

Benchmark-size is understood to be at least $500 million.

The potential sale will be arranged by Emirates NBD, HSBC Holdings, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Standard Chartered and the bank itself, the statement said.

The public sale of a debt instrument to raise Tier 1 capital is rare in the Middle East, and follows November’s issuance by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank of a $1 billion Tier 1 sukuk.

ADIB’s innovative hybrid Tier 1 perpetual sukuk, which has no defined maturity date, was issued at par with a profit rate of 6.375 per cent after orders totalled over $15 billion.

The DIB sukuk will be classified as deeply subordinated, with proceeds used to strengthen the bank’s tier one or core capital, a key measure of a bank’s financial strength, rather than booked as a liability on its balance sheet.

DIB’s tier one ratio stood at 13.9 per cent, as of December 2012, above the 12 per cent regulatory requirement.

DIB’s sukuk is callable at year six, according to an investor presentation seen by Reuters, and on every periodic distribution date after that.

It will carry a fixed profit rate of six-year midswaps over the initial margin until first call and then the profit rate will be reset to adjust for the then-prevailing six-year midswaps over the initial margin.

Gulf banks are expected to comply with tighter Basel III global standards for core capital, which will be gradually introduced over coming years.