Retail T-sukuk is coming soon — and at a cheaper price

The UAE’s retail T-sukuk program is finally going live: The Finance Ministry is readying the first sovereign retail T-sukuk issuance, allowing citizens and residents to invest directly in government-backed sukuk through an IPO-style subscription process for the first time, according to a statement.

The good news is: The threshold to invest has been lowered to AED 1k, instead of the AED 4k threshold previously outlined by the ministry, pointing to the government looking to cast the participation net as wide as possible. The sukuk will also be tradable on Nasdaq Dubai after listing.

REMEMBER- The initiative was first unveiled last October as part of a push to broaden participation in government investment instruments and encourage long-term saving and investing. The move builds on the UAE’s wider T-sukuk program, which is consistently oversubscribed.

ADVISORS- Emirates NBD will act as lead receiving bank, alongside our friends at Mashreq, Emirates Islamic, ADIB, and Ajman Bank as receiving banks.

Watch this space: Details of the first issuance — including the coupon rate, tenor, and subscription period — are expected within a week. Fitch Ratings’ Bashar Al Natoor previously told EnterpriseAM the program could eventually be opened up to international retail investors if local demand proves strong.