The Jakarta Post | Tue, 05/29/2012 9:00 AM

JAKARTA: PT Bank Muamalat, one of the country’s major sharia banks, will issue Islamic bonds (sukuk) worth Rp 800 billion (US$84.8 million) in the third week of June.

Muamalat’s compliance and risk management director Andi Buchari told reporters on Monday he hoped the financial market would be bullish again later next month so that the new sukuk would be fully subscribed by investors.

“We are still confident about the market demand for our sukuk,” Buchari said, hoping that it could be priced with a yield of 9 percent.

The Rp 800 billion offering is a part of Muamalat’s plan to raise Rp 1.5 trillion to strengthen its financing resources. The remaining Rp 700 billion is scheduled to be floated later this year or in the first semester of 2013.

By the end of this year, Muamalat expects to channel Rp 32.4 trillion in financing, up about 44 percent from last year’s funding of Rp 22.47 trillion.

By the end of 2011, Bank Muamalat — Indonesia’s first whole-sharia bank and the only Indonesian bank to operate a full branch network in Malaysia —had Rp 32.48 trillion in total assets and Rp 26.66 trillion in third party funds.