Dubai Islamic Bank opens new funding channel with first-ever syndicated Islamic facility

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) closed its debut syndicated Islamic financing facility — a USD 750 mn, three-year senior unsecured commodity murabaha term loan that pulled in c. USD 1.2 bn in commitments, or about 1.6x the facility size, DIB said in a statement (pdf). This follows a USD 1 bn AT1 sukuk issuance in June. Pricing on the facility wasn’t disclosed.

Why it matters: Syndicated loans draw a different investor base than public sukuk (attracting direct bank lending rather than bond investors), and opening that channel gives DIB more room to diversify away from capital markets pricing when it needs liquidity. The 1.6x coverage — while less frenzied than the 2.3x order book DIB generated for its AT1 sukuk in June — signals resilient demand for the first bank debt issuance in over a month.

ADVISORS- HSBC Bank Middle East, Mizuho Bank, and Standard Chartered acted as initial mandated lead arrangers, bookrunners, and coordinators. That trio was named when the facility was first mandated in mid-June.