Diversification of Islamic Financial Instruments
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experts, with nearly 25 legal firms offering their expertise in Sukuk structuring globally
headquartered in London. Specialist services are also available for advice on tax, listings,
transactions, regulations, compliance, management, operations and information technology
systems.
On the innovation side UK has been at the forefront. In 2015, the government of the United
Kingdom and UK Export Finance participated as underwriters to their first global Sukuk its
first Islamic bond, as a sign of London’s growing role in the global market for Shariah
compliant debt. Also, the export credit agency (ECA) of UK in 2015 provided a cover of GBP617
million (US$936.95 million) Sukuk issued by Dubai’s Emirates Airline for purchase of Airbus A
380s. This was the first incident of a Sukuk issuance in the global market with the backing of
an export credit agency and the largest offering of any kind of Debt instrument. The innovative
arrangement allowed for opening doors to pre-funding the sale of aircrafts which is being
copied by other upcoming Sukuk structures.
The highlight of the first Shariah compliant pre-delivery payment (PDP) helicopter financing
deal was the role of Bank of London and the Middle East (BLME) as the Islamic financing party.
This deal opened up the possibility to allow LCI Helicopters to complete the world’s first
secured helicopter PDP funding under an Islamic finance structure. The innovative multi-year
financing arrangement covers approximately US$250 million worth of Airbus helicopter
assets.
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange is a key global venue for the issuance of Sukuk. As of March 2017,
US$48 billion has been raised through 65 issues of Sukuk London Stock Exchange. The
Exchange has diversified and currently offers the choice of two routes to market – the Main
Market or the Professional Securities Market. The Main Market is the Exchange’s flagship
international market for established companies and offers access to deep pools of capital and
the benefit of a high profile launch to market. The Professional Securities Market, which is
Exchange-regulated, offers the benefits of listing with more flexible regulatory
requirements. It allows the admission of debt securities and Sukuk without the requirement
for a full prospectus as only listing particulars are required and the disclosure requirements
are tailored to wholesale needs as they can be governed by domestic GAAP rather than IFRS.
The current Sukuk actively trading on the London Stock Exchange are listed in the Table
(Actively Traded Sukuk on LSE) given below.
Table 79. List of Actively Traded Sukuk on London Stock Exchange
Issuer Name Issue Date Maturity Coupon (%)
Amount Issued
(USD)
IDB Trust
Services Ltd
07/12/2016 07/12/2021 2.263 1,250,000,000
DP World
Crescent Ltd
31/05/2016 05/31/2023 3.908 1,200,000,000
Hilal Services
Ltd
13/04/2016 13/04/2021 2.468 300,000,000
IDB Trust
Services Ltd
10/03/2016 10/03/2021 1.775 1,500,000,000