Clifford Chance advises Najran Cement Company on Sukuk issue

17/06/2015 16:33 AST

International law firm Clifford Chance has advised Najran Cement Company on its debut sukuk issuance. The sukuk was issued with a face value of SAR400 million, with a floating profit rate linked to SAIBOR and a maturity of five years.
Stuart Ure, Capital Markets Partner at Clifford Chance Dubai commented: "We are delighted to have had the opportunity to advise the Najran team on accessing the capital markets for the first time. This is an important step for Najran in developing its business, achieving its strategic goals and diversifying its funding. Tapping the liquidity of the capital markets in the Kingdom also reflects a growing trend we are witnessing across the spectrum of issuers.
"This sukuk issuance was offered on a private placement basis to sophisticated investors resident in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Fransi Capital Limited acted as the Lead Manager and Bookrunner for the transaction, and also acted in separate capacities as the Payment Administrator and Sukukholders' Agent.
The Clifford Chance team was led by Stuart Ure (Partner, Capital Markets), supported by Alekhya Prakash (Associate, Capital Markets) and Eileen Kerr (Associate, Capital Markets) in Dubai. Abdullah Al Hoqail (Senior Associate, Finance) led the team based in Riyadh.
For further information about Clifford Chance see www.cliffordchance.com
For further information about this release contact Magdalena Suder on +971 4 362 0444 The Clifford Chance Capital Markets team is the largest and most experienced dedicated capital markets team in the region offering our clients expertise across the full range of capital markets products, including structured finance, securitisation and convertible bonds. The same team that advised on the Najran debut sukuk also advised on several other market-leading and innovative deals in the past couple of months including:
Dubai Aviation Corporation (flydubai) on its inaugural US$500 million sukuk issuance DP World Limited's issuance of US$1 billion convertible bond; the largest public equity-linked offering from Dubai and the second largest from the Middle East since the financial crisis in 2007 and DP World's first ever convertible bond.
Issuance of Etisalat's US$4.3 billion corporate bond. This is the GCC's largest ever corporate issuance.
Establishment of the Ooredoo US$2 billion trust certificate issuance programme and inaugural issuance of US$1.25 billion trust certificates; the first sukuk certificates to be issued in the GCC with the innovative manafae structure.
Emirates Islamic Bank on a US$500 million sukuk for the purposes of creating a murabaha financing platform by Emirates Islamic Bank and Emirates Islamic Financial Brokerage, in partnership with NASDAQ Dubai.
Saudi Arabian General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) SAR15.211 billion (US$4.06 billion) sukuk issuance, the largest ever issuance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
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