Hogan Lovells advises on debut sukuk for the government of cote d'ivoire

11 January 2016 - Hogan Lovells has advised the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), as arranger, on the inaugural CFA150 Billion sukuk offering by the Government of Côte d'Ivoire.

The sukuk is an amortising sukuk al-ijara and is targeted at local banks and institutional investors. It mirrors the successful Senegal sukuk that Hogan Lovells advised on in 2014.

Imran Mufti, Partner commented:

"We were very pleased to work with the ICD team on this debut issuance for the Government of Côte d'Ivoire. Islamic financing is gaining pace in Africa and we expect to see more sukuk from African issuers in the near future."

Zaky Sow, Sukuk Project Manager for ICD added:

"We are delighted to have brought this ground-breaking sukuk to the market and to also introduce Islamic finance to Cote D'Ivoire. The sukuk opens up a whole new stream of investment into the country, which will ultimately benefit the people. Having worked with Hogan Lovells' team on the Senegal sukuk, we were confident that they would be able to provide us with a high quality service and expert advice combined with a deep understanding of the market."

Rahail Ali, Global Head of Islamic Finance commented:

"There are tremendous possibilities for sukuk in Africa, especially given the huge capital development anticipated in the continent."

Hogan Lovells' team was led by Global Head of Islamic Finance, Rahail Ali and Partner Imran Mufti. They were assisted by Partner Baptiste Gelpi, International Debt Capital Markets, Paris and Lina Bugaighis, Dubai.

Hogan Lovells has a first-rate reputation as a leader in Islamic finance, having advised on numerous first-of-their-kind transactions, such as the first major sukuk by an African sovereign, the first convertible sukuk, the first equity-linked sukuk, the first Sharia-compliant securitisation, the first international sukuk al-mudaraba and sukuk al-musharaka, the first sukuk buy-back, and the first Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) guaranteed Islamic project financing.

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