The Commercial Real Estate USD100 million Sukuk offering successfully closed - rated (A-)

The Sukuk signing ceremony was held at the Courtyard Marriott with all key transactional parties in attendance.

The Sukuk was underwritten by Senior Lead Manager Kuwait Finance House (Kuwait), Lead Manager Boubyan Bank, in addition to Deutsche Bank, Emirates Islamic Bank, Gulf Investment Corporation, Kuwait Financial Centre, Liquidity Management Centre, Bank Muscat International, Arab Islamic Bank (Palestine) and Arab Insurance Group.

The Ijara Sukuk has been structured as a Shari'a compliant lease-to-own Islamic security with a five year term maturing in 2010. It offers a semi-annual return of 125 basis points over US Dollar 6 months LIBOR. The Sukuk is the first offering of a rated corporate Sukuk issue that has been assigned a rating of "A-" by Capital Intelligence. The Sukuk offering has been approved by the Bahrain Monetary Agency and is expected to be listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange shortly.

The Arrangers; Kuwait Finance House, Kuwait Financial Centre and Liquidity Management Centre jointly commented at today's signing ceremony; "Today represents a milestone for the financial community in Kuwait with the official signing of the Commercial Real Estate Sukuk Issue and further reflects the optimism in the Sukuk market and its continued momentum".