The first corporate sukuk of Oman had obtained regulatory approval. The five year SAR50 million or US$130 million private placement is expected to be closed by next month. This was confirmed by the sukuk's lead arranger last Wednesday. 

Tilal Development Co would issue the sukuk and its proceeds would be utilized to repay existing debt as well as expand the Muscat Grand Mall. Should this sukuk be successful, then this could just be the beginning of a wave of companies in the Sultanate of Oman that would sell off Islamic bonds.

Accccording to Al Madina Investment's head for Islamic finance Mohsin Shaik Sehu Mohamed, "We have already done our roadshows and also got some commitments from pension funds locally. Now the target is to close this deal. We are trying our best to close it in July."

The said sukuk is rated BBB+ by ratings agency Capital Intelligence. The provisions include payment of a 5% profit rate and the use of an ijara structure which is a common sharia compliant lending arrangement.

Al Madina announced other Omani sukuk issues beng prepared. One of them is would be launched in the latter part of 2013. Mohamed added. "We have two more in the pipeline - one government related entity and one family-owned company."