Dubai: The Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank set the size of its five-year sukuk issue at $1.5 billion on Thursday while tightening the pricing to the low end of its previous guidance, according to a document from the lead arrangers.
Final pricing was given at a spread of 10 basis points over mid-swaps; previous guidance was in the range of 10 to 12 bps, and initial price thoughts were 15 bps.
The order books were approaching $2 billion, according to the document. Books closed at 1000 GMT on Thursday.
The AAA-rated IDB had mandated CIMB, Deutsche Bank, First Gulf Bank, GIB Capital, HSBC, Maybank, Natixis, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, and Standard Chartered Bank as joint bookrunners to arrange the sukuk sale.
The IDB, which last issued $1 billion in five-year Islamic bonds in July, is looking to increase its issuance of sukuk, partly to raise its profile among international investors and to secure similar pricing levels to other development banks.
