HSBC AMANAH LEADS FIRST SUKUK FROM ABU DHABI GOVT ENTITY

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 15 (Bernama) -- HSBC Amanah has acted as lead manager for
the US$1 billion Sukuk Al Ijara for Abu Dhabi's Tourism Development and
Investment Co (TDIC), the first sukuk to be issued by an Abu Dhabi government
entity.

A statement released here Thursday said the five-year sukuk was priced at
230 basis points over mid-swaps and was almost seven times oversubscribed.

By region, the distribution was 60 per cent to the Middle East and 20 per
cent each to Asia and Europe while among investors, the breakdown was 48 per
cent for banks and treasury, 21 per cent asset managers, 15 per cent central
banks, 14 per cent private banks, and others two per cent.

TDIC is a master developer of major tourism destinations in Abu Dhabi,
capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and a key contributor to its economic
and cultural progress.

The agency is behind some of the UAE)'s capital most prestigious projects,
including Saadiyat Island, which will house the world's largest single
concentration of premier cultural institutions such as the Zayed National
Museum, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, a performing arts
centre and a maritime museum.

TDIC's developments are helping to support Abu Dhabi's evolution as a
world-class destination for tourists, businesses and residents and helping to
realise the emirate's considerable tourism potential and strategic goal of
delivering 2.7 million hotel guests a year by 2012.

HSBC Amanah's director of debt capital markets, Mohammed Dawood, said the
sukuk was significant because it was the first sukuk ever to be issued by an Abu
Dhabi government entity, and the largest non-sovereign sukuk to be issued from
the Gulf region during 2009.

"The issue was heavily oversubscribed, with almost US$7 billion committed
from an investor community that has an ever-growing appetite for this asset
class," he said.
-- BERNAMA