The hybrid structured debentures was made on a floating rate basis and is a perpetual senior Sukuk that is callable after five years. Carrying a coupon rate of 200bps over six months SIBOR, the Sukuk’s hybrid structure consists of the Mudarabah and Murabahah, similar to its previous Sukuk issuance. The Mudarabah component constitutes 51% of the Sukuk structure while the remaining 49% is constituted by a Murabahah. Speaking to Islamic Finance
news, Bilal Kahlon, a partner at Baker & McKenzie who led the team advising Almarai on the deal said: “To our knowledge, this is the first perpetual Sukuk to be issued in Saudi Arabia. Almarai is also possibly the first non-financial institution to issue a perpetual Sukuk in the Gulf region.” The deal was a private placement offered to investors resident in Saudi Arabia. Due to the perpetual nature of the Sukuk, Bilal noted that the issuance significantly differs from the earlier issuance undertaken by Almarai pursuant to its Sukuk program.
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