The Dubai Electricity & Water Authority has completed a $1bn five-year sukuk (Islamic bond) issue, priced at 3 per cent after attracting an orderbook of more than $5.5bn.

The deal was arranged by the UK’s Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered, the US’ Citigroup, and the local Emirates NBD, Dubai Islamic Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank.

Dewa will use most of the proceeds from the issue to pay off an existing AED3.2bn sukuk that matures on 16 June. The latest deal benefited from strong demand from investors that enabled Dewa to price the $1bn sukuk at rates only slightly above a Dubai sovereign sukuk with a similar maturity date.