Emirates Airline Eyes 10 Year Sukuk Issue This Week

Emirates airline, Dubai’s flagship carrier, plans to issue a 10-year amortising Islamic bond, or sukuk, this week, after releasing early price talk for the deal.

The sukuk, maturing 2023, will have an amortising structure, with an average weighted life of five years, arranging banks said.

An amortising bond is structured in a way that gradually reduces the value of the bond over a fixed period of time, meaning the borrower pays off the full amount before the final maturity date.

Lead arrangers released initial profit rate guidance at a spread ranging between 300 basis points to up to 350 bps area over five-year midswaps.

The dollar-denominated sukuk will be at least $500 million in size.

Emirates tapped global debt markets in January for a $750 million amortising bond, which received a muted response due to weak market sentiment at the time.

It has also issued two smaller export credit agency-backed deals this year to finance aircraft deliveries.

The Dubai government-owned airline has picked Citigroup Inc , Standard Chartered, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank , Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank and ENBD Capital for the proposed sale.

Roadshows are due to conclude in London on Monday.