03/10/2004

EURO (FIRSAN) Sukuk

First Islamic Investment Bank, a leading Bahrain-based investment bank, and the Liquidity Management Centre (LMC) announced the issuance of a 76 million Islamic Sukuk (bond) offering by First Islamic.

The 2 year maturing Sukuk issue pays a return of 6 month EURIBOR (2.17794% as of 21 October 2004) + 1.25%. First Islamic Registered Aman Euro Notes (Euro FIRSAN) was oversubscribed by €26 million. This raised the original issue size from €50 million to €76 million. LMC is acting as the Sukuk Manager for Euro FIRSAN.

Abdulaziz Aljomaih, First Islamic's Vice Chairman, said ‘We are pleased with the strong response to First Islamic's Euro FIRSAN offering, which constitutes the Bank's second Sukuk issue following an equally successful $100 million offering in April 2003. Both issues have been aimed at further strengthening First Islamic's balance sheet and providing financing for its increased investment activities in the European market. We appreciate the support provided by LMC, which has contributed significantly to the success of this offering.’

Hussein Al Meeza, Chairman of LMC, said, ‘First Islamic is one of the most innovative financial institutions in the region, and we are pleased to support the Bank's ongoing expansion into the European market. The strength of the Bank and the investment opportunities it offers are no better reflected than by the impressive investor response, which saw the size of the offering increase from an initial €50 million to €76 million in order to accommodate strong investor demand.’

LMC was established in July 2002 as a Bahraini Joint Stock Company with an Islamic Investment Banking License to enable Islamic financial institutions to manage their liquidity through short and medium term liquid investments within Shari'ah guidelines. LMC is now an active player in the secondary market for short term Shari'ah compliant treasury products across the GCC region, and has the capability to arrange Islamic investment instruments of varying risk and return profiles at different tenors.