QInvest officials display the “Qatar Deal of the Year Award” during the Islamic Finance News awarding ceremony.
The Islamic Finance News recently bestowed to QInvest the “Qatar Deal of the Year Award” for its role in Ooredoo’s debut of its $1.25bn sukuk.
QInvest chief executive officer Tamim Hamad al-Kawari said the sukuk was Ooredoo’s first Islamic bond and pioneering US dollar denominated sukuk “that used an innovative airtime structure.”
“Last year was very exciting for us as we were involved in some of the largest and most successful sukuk transactions,” said al-Kawari, who added that QInvest acted as joint lead manager and book runner for the deal.
Al-Kawari emphasised that the award “is a testament to the hard work of our team and their ability to develop effective solutions for our clients. Looking ahead, we have an exciting pipeline of deal flow that will see us working very closely with corporates and sovereigns that are looking for ways to diversify their funding.”
QInvest deputy CEO & head (Investment Banking) Michael Katounas added that “the Ooredoo sukuk was a significant step forward for Islamic finance, given the innovative use of airtime as the asset where the transaction was based.”
Katounas said the company has observed that Islamic finance “has become increasingly mainstream.”
“We can expect more innovation similar to this from businesses seeking access to capital outside conventional markets. It is an honour to receive this award from Islamic Finance News and for the QInvest team to be recognised in this way,” he added.
Al-Kawari noted that in 2013, QInvest advised on $3.5bn worth of sukuk transactions or 20% of total global US dollar sukuk issuance.
Similar to the Ooredoo sukuk, QInvest acted for the Republic of Turkey as joint lead manager and book runner on the sovereign’s second sukuk – a $1.25bn issuance, which was a successful follow-on offering to the Republic’s first sukuk in 2012.
The bank was also one of the joint lead managers for Saudi Arabia-based developer Dar al-Arkan’s $450mn sukuk, an offering from an issuer that provides diversity to sukuk investors being a rare sub-investment grade sukuk.
This followed on from QInvest’s co-manager role on Turkiye Finans’ $500mn debut sukuk issue.
These transactions form a key part of QInvest’s new strategy to deliver long-term sustainable growth and reinforce the bank’s position as a leading Islamic financial institution.
QInvest recently unveiled its audited full-year 2013 results and reported a 40% increase in revenue, a 30% reduction in costs, and a return to profitability with $60mn improvement in profit.
Also, 2013 saw significant capital deployment across financing and real estate transactions. Meanwhile, balance sheet risk was significantly reduced through collection of outstanding receivables and a reduction in foreign currency exposure.