Details are set to be finalised by the end of September on the BMA's eighth offering of the Islamic leasing instrument, when senior officials return from the IMF/World Bank meetings in Dubai. The paper will have a tenor of five years but its rental return is yet to be decided, nor where the roadshow will go.

Lead managers are also due to be appointed by the end of September. BMA officials say that the Liquidity Management Centre (LMC) is likely to be among them. The LMC, a joint venture of the Islamic Development Bank, Bahrain Islamic Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank and Kuwait Finance House (KFH), was established with the stated aim of developing Bahrain as a hub for Islamic banking in the Gulf. LMC, KFH and National Bank of Bahrain lead managed the BMA's previous $250 million sukuk, launched in May (MEED 21:5:03). The five-year paper carried a return of 60 basis points over Libor and took to $730 million the total value of Islamic leasing bonds issued by the BMA.

'We have seen from previous issues that there is an enormous appetite among investors for these instruments,' says an LMC official. 'We are working hard to design and launch increasing numbers of sukuks to create a secondary market for [Islamic] investors.' Doha is due to issue its debut sukuk, understood to be worth $500 million, at the end of September to finance the construction of Hamad Medical City (MEED 12:9:03). BMA officials were unable to say how Manama will use the $250 million raised from its latest issue.