Al Waseelah

Al Waseelah is a unique initiative of Khalij Group, in collaboration with Bedford Row Capital, to establish an Islamic issuance and securitization platform to help its clients issue Sukuk or notes, which are listed on recognised stock exchanges.

The key aspects of Al Waseelah are set out below:

Shari’a compliant: Al Waseelah is first of its kind issuance platform which is fully Shari’a compliant and has the ability to issue Sukuk or notes for any underlying Shari’a compliant assets and structures.

Fully independent: Al Waseelah is completely independent of any financial institution and allows any third party to use Al Waseelah for its Sukuk or note issuances.

Jurisdiction: As Al Waseelah is based out of the United Kingdom, Al Waseelah uses English Law as the jurisdiction, which is has the following key advantages:

• On shore and recognized jurisdiction;
• Very well-known and accepted by Islamic investors;
• Used by most international Islamic transactions;
• Highly respected with regards to law and practice;
• Well known for supporting banking and sophisticated financial transactions;
• Established, recognised and tested jurisdiction with more than 600 years of precedence; and
• Trustee Act 2000 requires the trustees to act in the best interest of the note holders.

Fully Flexible: Al Waseelah is fully flexible to securitize any Shari’a compliant asset (i.e. real estate, aviation, infra-structure etc.) using any Shari’a compliant structure (i.e. Murabaha, Wakala, Ijara, Mudaraba etc.).

Protection for investors: Each issuance of Al Waseelah is executed through legally segregated and bankruptcy remote compartments. This helps in protecting the investors – in case of any challenge or issue with an existing note, there is no spill over from one compartment to another.

Cost & Time Efficient: As Al Waseelah is a ‘plug and play’ solution, it offers a very time and cost efficient solution to its clients. In a typical transaction, the cost and time associate with Al Waseelah issuing a note is significantly lower to the time and costs involved of setting up an SPV and getting all the relevant listing and regulatory approvals.

Tax Efficient: Although Al Waseelah is based out of the United Kingdom, it offers a very tax efficient solution to its clients with no withholding tax implications on the coupons paid by Al Waseelah to its investors.

Characteristics of issuance: The notes issued by Al Waseelah have the following key characteristics:

• All issuances have ISINs;
• All issuances are listed on a recognised stock exchange (e.g. Frankfurt, Ireland etc.);
• All issuances are traded and cleared through clearing systems like Crest, Clearstream and Euroclear;
• Depending upon the structure, underlying asset and the obligor, the issuance can be rated; and

Notes can be issued in all major currencies.