LONDON: In a first for the European market, Al Waseelah plc has issued a USD 50 million 10% 7-year Sukuk to finance the expansion of the mining operations for NQ Minerals plc, a UK listed company with a proven track record and operating profits.

This is a ground breaking transaction; a first for European corporates, which also demonstrates the increasing need for mainstream corporates to diversify their funding base and use appropriate tools to get access to global capital markets.

AL Waseelah is a UK based issuer which offers a flexible, quick to market solution for sukuk issuance – Murabaha, Ijara or Wakala structures can be issued through a comprehensive service platform which offers an end to end solution for issuance of Sukuk including structuring support, on-going administration, Shari’a compliance reviews, listing of Sukuk and clearing of Sukuk on international clearing systems. Al Waseelah offers a time and cost-efficient solution to its customers and has the capability to securitize and issue Sukuk based on variety of Islamic finance structures including Murabaha, Ijara and Wakala.

The $50 million 10% 7-year sukuk is issued to provide expansion capital to NQ Minerals PLC which is a UK-listed mining business with a proven track record and operating performance.

The issuance of the Sukuk was managed by Bedford Row Capital; a specialist capital markets services firm and Shari’a advisory services were provided by Khalij Islamic.

NQ Minerals stated that “We are delighted to be working with Bedford Row Capital and Al Waseelah on this innovative financing transaction.”

Stuart Gordon, Chairman of Bedford Row Capital, stated that “being the first sukuk for a listed UK corporate provides new choices for Islamic investors who have never before had the chance to invest in a compliant manner in stock exchange listed for European assets.  Al Waseelah offers Sukuk as an alternative financing solution to global corporates and institutions and offers investors Shari’a compliant investment opportunities to invest in listed financial instruments.”

The ability to issue sukuk efficiently and provide investors access to European assets for the first time means that opportunities now exist for companies to deploy more capital in a shariah compliant manner across a broader range of assets.  This applies as much to high net worth individuals as well as corporates and institutional investors seeking both asset security and market leading returns.

Edited by Kazim Rizvi