LAHORE, May 10: Wapda will issue a 10-year sukuk bond worth at least Rs8 billion ($132 million) next month to partly fund projects and for other needs, a senior official said on Thursday.

The power utility has mandated the Dubai Islamic Bank, National Bank of Pakistan and Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Ltd to arrange the issue jointly, said Imtiaz Anjum, Member Finance at Wapda.

“We plan to sell our sukuk in June, and it will be worth at least Rs8 billion,” Anjum told Reuters.

“However, we can go beyond this figure as well, depending on the situation at that time.” The issue will be backed by government guarantee and will be eligible for inclusion in the statutory liquidity reserves, or SLR, of Islamic banks as well as conventional banks having Islamic banking windows.

Proceeds from the sukuk would be used to fund development projects as well as other financing needs of the power utility.

This would be the second sukuk issuance by Wapda, which also issued seven-year debt in January last year.—Reuters