LONDON: The global sukuk or Islamic bond market is recovering as investor confidence returns, and issuance this year will reach US$16 billion (US$1 = RM3.49), with Malaysia taking the lion's share, the head of CIMB Islamic said.
Badlisyah Abdul Ghani of Malaysia's CIMB Islamic, the world's leading sukuk arranger in the year to August, said the sukuk market will grow slightly in 2009, after being hit by the liquidity drought and market crash of 2008.
Badlisyah said CIMB Islamic, is on course to issue 19 sukuk by the end of the year and it has a "very healthy" pipeline for 2010.
Sukuk issuance fell 56 per cent in 2008 to US$14.9 billion, ratings agency Standard & Poor's says. Sukuk are underpinned by tangible assets and do not pay interest. Instead investors receive periodic returns from the assets that underpin the bond.
Badlisyah said sukuk is recovering in line with a global market rally but buyers were "more cautious" about those issued by Gulf firms, where confidence has been rocked by a scandal involving Saad, one of Saudi Arabia's biggest private firms. - Reuters