Mamoura Diversified Global Holding (Mubadala) stepped onto the international sukuk stage during the review period with a landmark $1 billion, 10-year sukuk that forwent traditional fixed-asset backing in favour of a bespoke, equity-based wakalah structure.
By deploying the group’s portfolio of publicly listed shares as underlying assets, the transaction became the first UAE-origin sukuk to treat Shariah-compliant listed equity as its principal asset class, signalling fresh flexibility for future issuers.
Investor appetite proved exceptionally strong. Books built swiftly, giving the issuer confidence to tighten guidance from the initial T+75bp area to a final spread of T+70bp, one of the narrowest margins ever achieved in the international sukuk arena and the tightest for a US-dollar sukuk in the past three years.
Demand ultimately surpassed $7 billion, producing a robust seven-times oversubscription, giving the deal more than seven times cover and enabling Mubadala to curate a high-quality register. Middle East accounts took 59%, while Asia secured 20%, Europe 19% and US-offshore investors 2%, reflecting both geographic breadth and growing cross-border confidence in equity-backed Islamic structures.
HSBC and Standard Chartered served as joint lead managers and bookrunners, with the latter also crafting the sukuk’s pioneering structure.
