New sukuk issuance on the horizon? Egypt may tap the international debt markets with a new USD 1.0 bn sovereign sukuk tranche by September or October, a government source told EnterpriseAM last week. The upcoming sukuk issuance will mark our first international issuance of the current fiscal year, and is part of the country’s USD 5 bn international sovereign sukuk program.

This will stand as Egypt’s third-ever sovereign sukuk issuance, following June’s USD 1 bnsovereign sukuk issuance, which had been fully subscribed by Kuwait Finance House, and

our maiden sukuk issuance back in 2023.

This aligns with the Finance Ministry’s plans to issue up to USD 4 bn in international bonds over the next 12 months, to help address its USD 11 bn external financing gap. The planned issuances could include EUR- and USD-denominated securities, sustainability bonds, sukuk, and CNY- or JPY-denominated instruments.

There is already a strong investor appetite for the upcoming issuance as the the offering advisors reported concrete offers and significant investor interest when they concluded a series of promotional meetings and roundshows in April, ahead of June’s successful issuance of the USD 1 bn sovereign sukuk issuance.

ADVISORS- Our friends at HSBC are leading the issuance along with Citibank, Dubai Islamic Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank.

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