DUBAI, 11 May 2017 - Hogan Lovells has advised Aktif Bank on the first sukuk ever to be listed on the Global Exchange Market of the Irish Stock Exchange ("ISE").

The US$118million sukuk was issued under a mudarabah structure with GAP Insaat Yatirim ve Dis Ticaret A.S., a Turkish construction company, acting as mudarib.

While the Irish Stock Exchange has listed sukuk historically, this is the first sukuk to be listed on the ISE's Global Exchange Market ("GEM"). GEM is one of the fastest growing debt listing markets in Europe, with over 1,000 issuers and more than 11,000 debt securities from 50 countries. 

The Hogan Lovells team was led by Imran Mufti (Partner, Dubai), with support from Annalisa Feliciani (Counsel, Rome), Ahmet Kalafat (Senior Associate, Dubai) and trainees Marjun Parcasio and Luigi de Angelis.

Hogan Lovells also represented Bank of New York Mellon as delegate trustee  and paying agent with Kit Johnson (Partner, London), Megan James (Associate, London) and trainee Chris Montague-Jones advising. 

Commenting on the transaction, Imran said:

"We were delighted to assist Aktif Bank on this landmark transaction and its listing on the Global Exchange Market of the Irish Stock Exchange which has increasingly become much more of a popular venue for sovereign and corporate issuers from the Middle East."

Onur Aksoy from Aktif Bank added:

"This sukuk represents a milestone for Islamic capital markets originating out of Turkey, particularly in light of the ISE listing on the Global Exchange Market. We were pleased to work with the Hogan Lovells team, benefitting from their deep understanding of Islamic finance, capital markets and their experience advising on similar transactions."