Date: February 2023
Issuer: TMS Issuer
Obligor: Greensaif Pipelines Bidco
Size: $1.5 billion
Structure: Wakala-murabaha
Tenor: 7.5 years
Banks: BNP Paribas, HSBC, JPMorgan (global coordinators, active bookrunners); Citi, First Abu Dhabi Bank, MUFG, SMBC Nikko (active bookrunners)
Such is the growth and dynamism of Islamic finance that innovative transactions are thick on the ground, providing additional propulsion to an already rapidly developing market.
Last year, there were several market firsts and distinctive deals, but there was only one that pioneered new financing territory, opening-up huge potential to draw a fresh wave of shariah-aligned investment capital toward some of the world’s most ambitious projects.
The $1.5 billion sukuk for Greensaif Pipelines Bidco, which forms part of a bigger triple-tranche $4.5 billion project bond and sukuk financing, was a ground-breaking transaction, marking the first time a project finance sukuk has been issued on the international capital markets.
It was not the biggest sukuk issued last year, or the most high-profile. But it is important, not least because sukuk project financing could boost real-economy investment in sectors and parts of the world where it is needed most.
Such