Warba Bank celebrates listing of its sukuk in Nasdaq Dubai
KUWAIT: Shaheen Al-Ghanem, Chief Executive of Warba Bank, the best investment bank in Kuwait as well as the best corporate advisory, yesterday rang the market-opening bell to celebrate the listing on Nasdaq Dubai of a $250 million Perpetual Tier 1 Basel III compliant Capital Sukuk.
Warba Bank’s $250 million Sukuk comprises Perpetual Tier 1 Mudaraba Capital Certificates, non-callable before 14 March 2022, with the initial coupon set at 6.50 percent. The Sukuk listed on Nasdaq Dubai on March 15, 2017.
The bell-ringing ceremony took place in the presence of Shaheen Hamad Al-Ghanim/ Warba CEO, Essa Kazim, Governor of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Secretary General of Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC), and Chairman of Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and senior representatives of Warba Bank, as well as Abdul Wahed Al-Fahim, Chairman of Nasdaq Dubai and Hamed Ali, Chief Executive of Nasdaq Dubai.
The Sukuk instrument will further strengthen Warba Bank’s capital base and support the bank’s continued growth and development as well as its commitment to Islamic finance. Established in 2010, Warba Bank is expanding its activities in the full range of banking and investment services in Kuwait in compliance with Sharia’a principles. The bank’s activities have long ago earned the investors’ trust in observance of the bank high-end performance and its keen commitment to provide its investors with top-notch investment’s tools that would grant them a steady growing income.
Moreover, Warba relies on its 5 years new strategy going through 2021 which focuses on transforming the bank To be an Islamic Corporate and Investment Banking Champion with a lean digitally enabled Retail business, through supporting the corporate sector with unparalleled investment’s services paving the way for a new developed era in Islamic banking.
Shaheen Al-Ghanem, Chief Executive of Warba Bank, said: “The success of our Sukuk in attracting investors from Kuwait, the MENA region and beyond reflects the confidence of the market in Warba Bank’s strategy for growth and development across all our business areas including investment, treasury, corporate banking and retail banking. We anticipate a great success out of listing Warba sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai’s a which is first class listing environment, including its close links with regional and global investors as well as its international regulatory standards, provides important support for this capitalraising initiative.”
Warba bank has achieved a tremendous success in covering the underwriting of its sukuk. A one week marketing campaign succeeded in attracting investor interest worth approximately $1.3 billion from Kuwait, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and London attaining an oversubscription of more than 5 times the sukuk issuance size. The matter that reflects the bank’s solidarity, and the overall national economy stability in general considering that this issuance is considered to be one of the most successful issuances in the market.
Warba sukuk underwriting has been achieved as the following: 27 percent in Kuwait, 43 percent in the markets of the Middle East and North Africa, 22 percent in the USA and Europe and 8 percent in Asia. The next step is to list the Sukuk in the Irish stock exchange.