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| ISI EMERGING MARKETS’ ISLAMIC FINANCE INFORMATION SERVICE (IFIS) RELEASES LATEST RANKINGS ON ISLAMIC DEALS
New York, NY, April 4, 2005 – IFIS, the first professional strength information service designed to meet the unique requirements of Sharia compliant finance industry participants, today released benchmark figures on tallying progress in the Islamic Finance Industry in 2004 and year to date 2005. According to figures compiled by IFIS analysts, the 2004 Islamic bond market chartered a positive growth from US$ 1.9 billion in 2003 to over US$6.7 billion in 2004. [Click here for full listing of IFIS Islamic Bonds Table 2004] Islamic Bond Market 1st Quarter 2005 IFIS analysts believe 2005 is set to chart similar growth. The total market size for Corporate and Sovereign issues for 1st Quarter 2005 year to date is US$1.08 billion. Taking into consideration projected deals for the rest of the year, it is anticipated the market will surpass the 2004 total Sukuk issuance. There are currently 12 Sukuk that have been issued to date. The Government of Pakistan headlined Asian Sovereign bond issuance for the 1st quarter 2005, with a US$600 million 5 year Sukuk. Backed by the Government of Pakistan, this issue attracted investors from Europe, Asia and the Gulf. [Click here to view this deal on IFIS] The year’s second sovereign issue – backed by the Government of Bahrain – was a US$79.5 Million Sukuk which was oversubscribed by 50%. [Click here to view this deal on IFIS] Issued Corporate Bonds – The top three Corporate Sukuk issuers year to date are Durrat Sukuk (Bahrain), Prembajaya Holdings (Malaysia) and Ample Zone (Malaysia). Lead Managers – The top rankings for Lead Managers to date go to Citigroup and HSBC Amanah. Bahrain Monetary Agency, placed second, Kuwait Finance House and Liquidity Management Centre placed third. [For full listing details click here] 1st quarter 2005 figures for Announced Sukuks tallied by IFIS show over US$5.1 billion in deals in the pipeline, with issuers from the Gulf, Malaysia, Indonesia and the UK leading the charge. In the Malaysian markets, the most prominent participant is Jimah Energy Ventures, which plans to issue over US$1.3 billion in Islamic bonds this year, according to sources from Jimah Energy Ventures. The Islamic Development Bank, a Saudi Arabia based supra-national entity, plans over US$1 billion bonds next quarter 2005. Global Managers with significant activity forecasted include Commerce International Merchant Bank (CIMB), HSBC Amanah, Dubai Islamic Bank, Deutsche Bank, and Emirates Islamic Bank. Non-Islamic issuers continue to show an interest in this niche market. Volaw Trust Jersey, UK have indicated they may be issuing another sukuk in 2005, with the underlying asset in the commercial sector. This would be a follow up to their award winning February 2004 effort which raised US$26.13 Million. It was the first securitisation exercise using a commercial fleet of vehicles as security. Entities like the Bahrain Financial Harbour will be issuing a sukuk to finance its Seafront property development. Full details for all deals available at http://ifis.securities.com About IFIS (Islamic Finance Information Service) is an information service designed to meet the unique requirements of Sharia compliant finance industry participants. IFIS is a single stop resource for investigating market opportunities in the world of Islamic finance. ISI Emerging Markets, a Euromoney Institutional Investor company, serves emerging markets specialists and multinational corporations, government agencies, libraries and consulting firms in the United States, Europe, and emerging market countries through its worldwide headquarters in New York and European headquarters in London, as well as its network of 22 offices throughout Latin America, Europe, Asia, Middle East and lately Sub-Saharan Africa. The Company's flagship Emerging Markets Information Service (EMIS) (www.securities.com) aggregates and produces unique content including financial, economic and political news and information, and makes that data available to institutional subscribers electronically over the Internet for electronic search and retrieval. Full-text news articles, financial statements, industry analyses, macroeconomic statistics, and market-specific and country specific information, which are derived directly from thousands of local and leading international information providers, appear in both English and local language. The Company is recognized as the leading business information resource for the Emerging Markets. EMIS is a powerful, useful and continuously updated business information repository from over 9500 information sources, especially for ASIA - (Southeast Asia, Greater China, India, Korea, IndoChina) and over 60 key emerging markets in Middle East, Latin America, Europe and Africa. For more information:
Rakiya Sanusi
ISI Emerging Markets
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