(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) New York September 17 (QNA) - Three years after its first foray into the Islamic capital markets ended without a sale investors piled in to buy sukuk debt from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) on Tuesday as the bank joined the governments of Hong Kong and the UK in selling debut Shariah-compliant bonds this year. The New York-based lender attracted bids for three times the $500 million of sukuk it sold yesterday according to two people familiar with the deal who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The five-year sukuk was priced to yield 90 basis points or 0.9 percentage point over the benchmark midswap rate according to the people. After failing to sell sukuk bonds in 2011 amid criticism the deal didn't ensure debt would be traded at par as required by Islamic law Goldman adjusted the structure this time in a bid to appeal to more investors. The new issue is a Sukuk al Wakala a Shariah-compliant format in which one party entrusts another to act on its behalf. Islamic financial assets globally will double to $3.4 trillion in the five years through 2018 according to forecasts from Ernst & Young LLP. The UK became the first non-Muslim country to issue sovereign Islamic bonds in June with a sale that lured orders for 10 times the amount offered. Hong Kong raised $1 billion in a debut sukuk last week with a bid-to-offer ratio of 4.7. (QNA)
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