This is a highly practical 3 day course delivered by industry expert Abdulkader Thomas that will address all the above issues in detail. The program is conducted in a consultative fashion and all key concepts and structures are illustrated by a case study or an exercise. At various points during the course delegates are expected to work in groups to structure financing solutions for clients, and then present these ideas to the group.

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Who Should Attend

• Islamic Bankers
• Corporate Financiers
• Investment Bankers
• Corporate and Commercial Bankers
• Private Bankers
• Analysts
• Portfolio Managers
• Consultants & Lawyers
• Investment Advisors
• Regulators
• Government representatives

COURSE AGENDA

Day One

Welcome & coffee

Introduction to Primary Underlying Principles of Islamic Finance as applied in the Capital Markets

• Questions of riba & gharar
• Possession, ownership

Core Organizing Concepts

• Examining the principles of Islamic investing when applied to real estate
• Musharakah v. Mudarabah
• Important rules to carry forward
• Leverage

The Importance of the Sukuk Market & Islamic Securitization

• What Basel II means for banks
• How securitization benefits banks and companies, notably in the emerging Islamic markets
• Volume & experimentation in the Sukuk market

What are Sukuk?

• Definition of Sukuk
• Shariah basis of Sukuk
• Accounting & Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) & Sukuk

Legal, Tax and Infrastructure Concerns for the Islamic Capital Markets

• Offering requirements for placements
• Trust and SPV rules, true sale, absence thereof
• Regulatory considerations – Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA)
• Regulatory developments and differences from jurisdiction to jurisdiction
• Role of the ratings agencies

Case Study: SCECO – Structuring Challenges in Saudi Arabia

• True sale
• Bankruptcy remoteness
• Accounting de-recognition
  o US – who has control
  o UK – who has the risks and rewards
• Trust – by contract?

Case Study: What Qatar Global Sukuk Teaches about Structuring Issues

• Deal structure points
  o Benchmarking
  o Ground lease
  o Operating v. financial lease
• Legal Infrastructure Challenges
  o Managing the problems of civil law, Shariah and the need for trust law
  o Creating a sovereign obligation where non exists in the facts

Operational Issues for Sukuk Transactions

• Clearing company needs
• Key steps to assure that Sukuk are tradable and eligible for listing
• Problems common with clearing and trading

Wrap Up – Q&A

Day Two

Future Flow and Revolving Securitization Issue

• What are the Shariah issues
• What are means to manage the issues
• Sample solutions from Malaysia and the GCC

Musharakah, Mudarabah & Wakala Sukuk Models

• Documentation requirements
• Similarity to a bond?
• Issuer, structurer, buyer and regulator issues

Canadian Gas Future Flow

• How Merrill saved a good deal
• Interactive exercise to construct the deal

Nucleus Sukuk Issuance

• The evolving Malaysian market
• Structure complexity
• Shariah management issues for cross border sales

Taking Sukuk to the Market

• Understanding the issuance process
• Documentation requirements
• Credit rating, underwriting & distribution

Rating Sukuk

• The questions and approaches taken by the rating agencies
• Examining prior cases to determine the ratings that could be applied

Day Three

The Issuance Cycle

• Key Steps for processing sukuk
• What are distribution challenges
• Which market is the best for issuance

Case Study: Tamweel & CAGAMAS

• Islamic MBS
• Tiering issues and questions
• Currency risks

My Company, my bank, my deal competition

• Interactive sukuk issuance project to and team exercise
• Three unique projects will be presented and teams will be asked to define solutions, market steps and listing outcomes

Hedging, Portfolio and Balance Sheet Management

• The latest developments in Islamic hedging
• Why hedging is so difficult from an Islamic perspective
• What changes should be expected and why
• What changes will not happen and why

Hedging Exercise

Teams will look at prior deals, including the pre-lunch discussion to determine if and how deals may be hedged, what are the processes and Shariah challenges.

Wrap-Up and Q&A

• What are the benefits for corporate and real estate companies? Western and Islamic property groups?
• Which methods are accepted better in the market?
• Outlook: What is the market expecting?

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EXPERT COURSE DIRECTOR

Abdulkader Thomas

President & CEO, SHAPE™ Financial Corp. Consultants to the US and international financial community in matters relating to Shariah compliant financial structuring; sub-advisor to the global securities industry with respect to sukuk and other forms of Islamic transactional issuance; and Islamic banking training resource. Clients include University Bank of Ann Arbor, Salam Financial Corp. of Toronto , and others. Principal, AJIF.org, LLC (The American Journal of Islamic Finance www.ajif.org). Research resource for the financial services industry including ISI Emerging Markets; Guidance Financial Group, LLC; Lightbulb Press, iHilal.com, Dow Jones Islamic Markets Indexes; and others. Licensor of REIT screening concept to iHilal Financial Services. Abdulkader has 25 years of diversified financial services experience. A graduate of the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy in international trade, Abdulkader earned a BA with honors in Arabic & Islamic Studies from the University of Chicago. Abdulkader has worked in Bahrain , New York , London and Los Angeles. His areas of activity have included trade finance, real estate finance, securities, and Islamic finance at Citibank, Credit Lyonnais, Sumitomo Bank, Ltd., The United Bank of Kuwait , and MEF Money/Guidance Financial Group.

Abdulkader is responsible for shepherding the first US banking regulatory approvals of Islamic financial instruments for ijarah wa iqtinah and murabahah. More recently Abdulkader secured regulatory approval for an Islamic profit sharing deposit to be applied in the US. Abdulkader also structured the first REIT of REITs structured to allow Muslims to invest in listed US REITs whilst complying with Shariah. Abdulkader has also been involved in the structuring of inbound foreign investment for both the US and the UK. Abdulkader has included supervising marketing and consumer demographics in conjunction with new business launches.

Abdulkader is a frequent speaker on Islamic financial and banking matters. He is the author of several works in the field including Islamic Bonds: Your Guide to Issuing, Structuring and Investing in Sukuk with Nathif Adam ( London : Euromoney, 2004). Forthcoming books include Structuring Islamic Financial Transactions (contracted with Euromoney for early 2006) and Interest in Islamic Economics: Understanding Riba (contracted with Taylor & Francis – Routledge for early 2006).

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DATES & PRICE

Special Refresher Day: the 3 day Sukuk course covers topics at an intermediate to advanced level.  To ensure you take away as much from the course as possible we have added an additional bonus refresher day to provide a grounding in the vital concepts of Islamic finance relevant to capital markets. This day is optional and is recommended for those with limited exposure to Islamic finance and financial products. Please click here for details of the agenda for this day.

Discounts

• Why not take advantage of our special group booking incentive and train a number of your team members at once?  Send 3 delegates to any one course and receive a fourth place completely free of charge.  Further incentives are also available for higher delegate numbers – please contact us directly for more details.

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