Citi won the awards in several categories: Deal of the Year, Sukuk Deal of the Year, Turkey Deal of the Year and Most Innovative Deal of the Year.
Citi was recognized for its work on projects that include government of Ras Al-Khaimah $400 million sukuk liability management: Most Innovative Deal of the Year, and Kuveyt Turk Participation Bank $100 million sukuk, which won all three categories: Deal of the Year, Sukuk Deal of the Year and Turkey Deal of the Year.
Atiq ur Rehman, Citi's CEO for the Middle East division and chairman of the Citi Islamic Investment Bank, said: "For the second year in a row, Citi is recognized by the specialized Islamic Finance News for its leadership in creating innovative Islamic banking solutions that meet the needs of regional clients. We are delighted to share these awards with our clients and colleagues in the industry."
Citi's global Islamic banking operations were established in 1981 in London, and in 1996 Citi became the first international financial institution to set up a separately capitalized Shariah-compliant subsidiary, Citi Islamic Investment Bank in Bahrain.
Since inception, Citi Islamic has played a pioneering and major role in the development of Islamic Finance globally, having successfully arranged several billion dollars of Islamic transactions for issuers in the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Latin America. This includes the origination, structuring and distribution of numerous landmark sukuk, syndications, project financings, Islamic advisory and investment products. Today, the bank is an innovator in this industry and one the leading book-runners of international Islamic Finance transactions.
Samad Sirohey, CEO of Citi Islamic Investment Bank and head of global Islamic banking, said: "With a dedicated team of Islamic finance professionals working with their colleagues across the global Citi network, we are proud to be able to deliver award winning results for top clients, whether private sector corporates or sovereign entities."
Barclays Capital received two awards. Barclays collected the Sovereign Deal of the Year for participating in the government of Malaysia $1.25 billion global sukuk and was also awarded the Syndicated Deal of the Year for the Jubail refinery $1.4 billion project financing.
Omar Selim, head of Europe and EEMEA distribution in Barclays Capital, said, "We are delighted to be recognized for our efforts in the Islamic banking space. This award clearly reflects our focus on Islamic finance and rewards our efforts over the last year in delivering bespoke, customized financial solutions to our clients."
He added: "We are committed to offering a broad range of innovative and market-leading products and services to all of our clients around the world. We are proud of our achievements in the Islamic financing space and are committed to continuing to demonstrate our ability to structure innovative, tailor-made financing solutions in Islamic format."
Dominic Selwood, who is responsible for Shariah-compliant Islamic products within the Financial Institutions Structuring Group, collected the award at the IFN Industry Awards.
The ITFC, which received international recognition by winning the "Murabaha Deal of the Year" and "Structured Finance Deal of Year" awards from Islamic Finance News, has been advancing trade to improve the economic situation and livelihoods of people across the Islamic world. The awards were for two deals that fell within its brief.
They were the Murabaha sugar trade finance deal in favor of Sudan and the innovatively structured Murabaha trade finance wheat deal for Kazakhstan.
ITFC applied an innovative Murabaha Islamic co-financing in favor of the Sudanese raw sugar refiner Kenana Sugar Company (KSC). This $50 million trade finance operation was described as a “runaway winner” by IFN, thanks to the ITFC's role in being innovative in structuring a Shariah-compliant trade finance operation.
In its notes on the award, IFN said that the Kenana Sugar presented an excellent example of multilateral support for the supply of raw materials on a deferred payment Murabahah basis to a Sudanese firm for conversion into ethanol and export onwards to Europe.
"The transaction shows the growing role of the Islamic Development Bank and its affiliates like the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation is stimulating and supporting economic development and growth. Key among these activities is the fact that transactions like Kenana Sugar are replicable in multiple jurisdictions for different business models. "
Hani Salem Sonbol, deputy CEO of ITFC, said ITFC built confidence and reassured markets by securing trade financing in OIC member countries and supporting the strategic economic sectors during periods of adversity. "This further augments the ITFC's catalyst role in contributing to the development of markets, trading capacities for OIC member countries; in order for them to do business more effectively amongst them and with the rest of the world," said Sonbol.
Islamic Finance News is a product of REDmoney, a major specialized Islamic finance publishing, information and event company. The winners of the IFN awards were determined through a voting system cast by industry participants, including financial services professionals, issuers, investors, non-banking financial intermediaries and government bodies from around the world.
