Qatar Islamic plans up to $1 bln sukuk sale-sources
May 15 (Reuters) – Qatar Islamic Bank QISB.QA (QIB), the Gulf state’s second-largest lender by market value, aims to raise as much as $1 billion through sale of an Islamic bond by the end of this year, two sources familiar with the matter said.
The sources, who did not want to be named, said the bank is planning to raise between $500 million to $1 billion from the sukuk sale, but did not say whether the Islamic lender had mandated banks for the proposed issue.
QIB invested 1.25 billion riyals ($343.6 million) in a sukuk in June issued by the Qatar Central Bank on behalf of the government to boost the domestic bond market. [ID:nLDE65J016]
The lender also launched a $750 million Islamic bond in late September, part of a spate of debt issues across the Gulf region.
Banks in Qatar are expected to benefit as the world’s fastest-growing economy spends more on infrastructure in preparation of its plans to host the 2022 World Cup of soccer.
Earlier in the year, Qatar’s central bank asked conventional lenders to close down their Islamic operations amid worries of overlap between the two. [ID:nLDE71503A] ($1=3.638 riyals) (Reporting by Regan E. Doherty, Writing by Dinesh Nair, editing by Maureen Bavdek)
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/15/qatarislamic-sukuk-idUSLDE74E0DY20110515