The sukuk issue (ISIN LU1113955196) is for an amount of EUR 200 million, matures in October 2019 and pays an annual distribution of 0.436 per cent. It uses an al-ijara structure, a form of lease contract linked to tangible assets, in this case three buildings belonging to the Luxembourg state.

This is only the fourth sukuk issued by a non-Muslim country and the first state issue to be denominated in euros. Listing on LuxSE will increase the sukuk’s visibility and enable certain institutional investors to invest in the issue.

Commenting on the listing and admission to trading Robert Scharfe, CEO of LuxSE, said: “We congratulate the Luxembourg Ministry of Finance for this successful inaugural euro-denominated sovereign sukuk issue which highlights the excellent reputation Luxembourg enjoys with Muslim and non-Muslim investors. It also demonstrates the determination of the Luxembourg government to help develop specific Islamic finance competences in our financial centre.”

The Luxembourg state sukuk, along with two other recent sukuk from Goldman Sachs and the South African state, further strengthens the position of LuxSE, which was in 2002 the first exchange in Europe to list a sukuk, as the listing venue of choice for innovative and international issues.