GFH Financial Group, a leading regional financial group with major interests in asset management and real estate headquartered in Bahrain, has announced the successful pricing of a $500 million five-year sukuk (Islamic bond), thus marking the extension of its international sukuk programme.

The final orderbook closed at over $2 billion, representing a four-fold oversubscription. This transaction was priced at 240bps tighter than GFH’s previous issuance in 2020 (relative to US Treasury benchmark), said GFH in a statement.

The issuance was met with strong demand from international investors who were allocated more than 50% of the issuance with the remaining allocated to regional and local investors. Included among them were a diverse mix comprising fund managers, private banks and financial institutions, it stated.

According to GFH, the proceeds of the sukuk will be used to enhance the financial position of the group and to fund its ongoing growth and diversification in line with its strategy.

JP Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank, Sharjah Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, Kamco Invest, Mashreq, Warba Bank, Al Rajhi Capital, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Bank ABC acted as Joint Lead Managers and Joint Bookrunners.

On the solid response, Group CEO Hisham Alrayes said: "We are delighted to mark another successful issuance further expanding GFH’s presence in the international debt capital markets and diversifying our global investor base."

"Strong demand for the issuance from a diverse group of international and regional institutional investors underscores the strength of our franchise and the reputation that GFH has built," he stated.

"It is also testament to the confidence we enjoy in our strategy, robust business model, and prospects as we expand our investments and global presence across priority sectors and markets including the GCC, US and Europe. We look forward to another chapter of growth where we will continue to build and deliver even greater value for our investors and shareholders," he added.

Today, GFH has more than $21 billion of assets and assets under management including a global portfolio of investments in logistics, healthcare, education and technology in the Mena region, Europe and North America.

The Group’s shares are among the most actively traded on four regional exchanges including the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Bahrain Bourse, Boursa Kuwait, and Dubai Financial Market.-TradeArabia News Service