FAB issues five-year US$500 million Sukuk

First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) has issued the lowest-ever yield on any five-year MENA bank USD issuance with a US$500 million five-year Sukuk issued at MS+90bps (all-in yield of 1.411 percent) through FAB Sukuk Company Limited.

The deal is FAB’s first USD benchmark offering and the first Sukuk issue globally in 2021. This offering was highly successful, attracting a total orderbook of circa US$1.5 billion which represents a three times over-subscription rate.

The deal also attracted high quality Islamic and conventional investors from the Middle East, Asia, UK and Europe.

Pricing on the deal at MS+90bps represents a negative new issue premium when compared to FAB’s January 2025 maturity Sukuk, which was trading at MS +104bps on day of deal announcement. This resulted in FAB printing the lowest-ever yielding five-year USD bank paper from MENA.

The Sukuk was placed to a diversified investor base of which 53 percent was international and 47 percent was regional. The placement to Islamic investors was 76 percent, signifying FAB’s appeal to Sharia-compliant liquidity pools globally.

"We are very pleased with the outcome of our Sukuk issue. Coming in the first week of January, we managed to take advantage of market conditions and print a deal roughly 20bps inside our curve. Once again, we had tremendous support from investors globally – both Islamic and conventional – which is testament to FAB’s strong credit fundamentals and the overall positive view of Abu Dhabi and the UAE economy by international investors," Rula Al Qadi, Managing Director and Head of Group Funding at FAB, said.

WAM/Rola Alghoul/Binsal AbdulKader