Shariah-complaint bonds

Sourced from REVE South Africa’s embattled national power utility Eskom has new plans to issue a $58 million (R1 billion) sukuk bond in a bid to diversify funding sources as borrowing costs rise. According to spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha, Eskom has appointed a new lead arranger “to work towards establishing timelines for the issue.” The power utility currently has over R450 billion in debt and has yet to announce further plans to ask the South African governments for additional capital injections. What is a sukuk? According to IOL, a sukuk is a Shariah-compliant investment and an attractive alternative to conventional bonds. For all intents and purposes a sukuk – Arabic for ‘investment certificate’ – is issued for the purpose of raising money for utilisation within a corporation or ...