The lending institution partly owned by the UAE emirate of Sharjah, the Sharjah Islamic Bank is now in the process of preparing for a dollar denominated Islamic bond or sukuk. The bank has chosen four banks to arrange meetings with its fixed income investors and its lead arrangers.

Sharjah Islamic converted into an Islamic bank back in 2002 and has chosen Al Hilal Bank of Abu Dhabi, HSBC Holdings, Liquidity Management House of Kuwait and Standard Chartered Plc to undertake the roadshows in Asia and Europe.

The sukuk, benchmark-sized and dollar-denominated, would soon follow after the meetings subject to market conditions. The benchmark size is usually set at US$500 million.

Many Gulf located banks have undertaken sukuk issues as the market increases its demand for Islamic debt in the region, In the first three months of 2013 alone, nearly 59% of the total US$9.75 billion worth of dollar denominated bonds have been issued in the format of an Islamic bond or sukuk.