Qatar’s Ooredoo Launches $1.25bn, 5-Year Sukuk

Qatari telecommunications firm Ooredoo has launched a $1.25 billion, five-year sukuk, the firm’s first Islamic bond, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The benchmark-sized U.S. dollar sukuk will mature on Dec. 3, 2018 and have a profit rate of 3.039 per cent, the statement added.

“Net proceeds from the sale of the Sukuk will be used by Ooredoo for general corporate purposes including re-financing existing indebtedness,” it said.

Benchmark-size typically refers to debt issues of $500 million or above.

Last week the company announced it had hired Singapore’s DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Qinvest and QNB Capital – a unit of Qatar National Bank – to act as joint lead managers and bookrunners.

Settlement is expected on Dec. 3, the statement said.

In November 2012, Ooredoo, then called Qatar Telecom, signed its first Islamic financing facility, an 18-month, $500 million murabaha structure.