Slaughter and May advised IFFIm - issuance of US$200 million Sukuk

Slaughter and May advised International Finance Facility for Immunisation Company (IFFIm) in relation to its second Sukuk, raising US$200 million for children’s immunisation in the world’s poorest countries through Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The transaction follows IFFIm’s inaugural Sukuk issued in December 2014.

The 3-year Sukuk - a financial certificate that complies with Islamic law - provides institutional investors with a socially responsible investment that will help protect tens of millions of children against preventable diseases. The issue, maturing on 29 September 2018 has an issue price of 100% and carries a quarterly coupon of 14 basis points over three-month USD LIBOR. The regional distribution of investors was 65% in the Middle East, 18% based in Asia and 17% in Europe. This Sukuk attracted interest from both traditional Sukuk investors and conventional investors with a strong environmental, social and governance focus, some of which purchased a Sukuk for the first time.

This Sukuk was coordinated by Standard Chartered Bank, working with joint lead managers Emirates NBD Capital Limited (Dubai), Maybank Kim Eng, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and NCB Capital Company.

William Watson Senior Consultant