Saudi Hollandi Bank were honoured by Islamic Finance News at an awards ceremony in Dubai Saturday night, winning the “Equity Deal of the Year” award for their recent SR775 million Sukuk deal. This was the first Tier II capital issuance in the Islamic space in the Middle East, said a press release. The issue is Mudarabah-based, and generates an expected yield for the investors of SIBOR plus 200 basis points with a step-up in the yield after five years. The money raised through the Sukuk will be exclusively invested in the Islamic banking and finance portfolio of the Bank. The lead manager and book runner of the deal was Saudi Hollandi Capital. An Islamic Finance News spokesman said that “this is one of the first quasi equity deals in the Islamic space. We feel that this important landmark trumps the other excellent deals which were submitted this year.” The award was collected on SHB's behalf by Dr. Bernd van Linder, SHB's Treasurer, and Mr. Kamal Mian, SHB's Head of Islamic Banking. Dr. van Linder commented that “the success of our Sukuk issue is further proof of the strength of Saudi Hollandi's franchise and the resilience of the Saudi economy and markets.”
