Emirates Islamic Bank, the sharia-compliant arm of Dubai’s largest lender Emirates NBD (ENBD), has launched the sale of a $750m sukuk (Islamic bond).

The sale of the five-year Islamic bond was expected to be completed late on 23 May, UK news agency Reuters said, citing a document from lead managers on the transaction.

Pricing for the instrument has been set at 220 basis points (bps) over midswaps after attracting orders from investors worth more than $2.2bn. The bank has priced the issue tighter than the 225 bps over the same benchmark indicated earlier, and well inside initial guidance of the 240 bps area.

The bank and its parent ENBD, arranged the issue, along with the UK’s Standard Chartered, the local Al-Hilal Bank, Bahrain’s Bank ABC, Dubai Islamic Bank, the UK’s HSBC, Malaysia’s Maybank and the local Noor Bank.

Governments and private and public sector companies in the region are queuing up to tap the debt markets before a possible interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve in June. Qatar’s Barwa Real Estate has signed $1.13bn-worth of financing agreements with a local bank last week while Saudi Arabia’s SEC has secured a $900m loan. Two Dubai banks, including ENBD, are speaking to lenders to raise a total of $1.7bn in financing. On the sovereign side, Saudi Arabia has sent a request for proposals (RFP) for an international bond while Qatar has mandated banks for a benchmark issue. Abu Dhabi, earlier this month, raised $5bn in a dual-tranche bond.