29 May 2016
Sharjah - Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB), a leading shariah compliant commercial bank in the UAE, has successfully repaid a USD 400 million sukuk. The Sukuk had been raised in May 2011 under challenging market circumstances. The funds raised under the sukuk were used for general corporate purposes and business expansion of SIB.

Mr. Mohamed Abdulla, CEO of SIB, thanked the investors of the Sukuk for their trust in SIB as a strong regional credit, holding investment grade ratings of A3 by Moody's and BBB+ by S&P and Fitch Ratings. He said "SIB believes that the capital markets to be an opportunity for growth for Islamic Banks and we, at SIB, would look to tap the markets at appropriate times. Sukuk allow us to diversify our funding sources and engage with investors on various opportunities."

Mr. Ahmed Saad, Deputy CEO of SIB commented that "The bank's liquidity remains strong whereas asset quality measured through coverage ratio and NPLs are in line with peers. SIB chose to repay the sukuk through its internal sources evidencing our excellent liquidity position and would look to engage with capital markets investors, under the USD 3 billion sukuk programme in the future. SIB has been tapping Sukuk markets since 2006, being one of the earliest sukuk issuers in the world"

SIB currently has two Sukuk of USD 500 million outstanding which are set to mature in 2018 and 2020 respectively.  

-End-

Bank Overview
Sharjah Islamic Bank was established in 1975 and is a public listed company on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange ("ADX"). The Bank is regulated by the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates.

Headquartered out of Sharjah, and operating with 31 branches throughout the UAE, the Bank offers its clients commercial banking services including deposits, loans and credit cards; asset management services including wealth, fund and portfolio management; investment banking services including corporate finance and investment advisory on mergers and acquisitions all according to Islamic principles.

SIB is the largest bank in the Emirate of Sharjah, UAE and has a 31.3% shareholding by the Government of Sharjah and 20% by Kuwait Finance House with the balance held by the public.

As at 31 March 2016, SIB posted a 22.9% year-on-year increase to attain a net profit of AED 131.9 million with total assets at AED 30.15 billion and shareholders' equity at AED 4.6 billion. SIB is rated A3 by Moody's, BBB+ by Standard & Poor's and BBB+ by Fitch with all three carrying a Stable outlook.

© Press Release 2016