Cleary Gottlieb acted as counsel to the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire in relation to a sovereign Sukuk offering using the Ijara (forward lease) structure. The offering of CFA 150 billion Sukuk due 2020 was priced at a profit rate of 5.75% and closed on December 28, 2015. The Sukuk offering by the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire is the second sovereign Sukuk issued by a West African nation after last year’s Sukuk debut by the Republic of Senegal. The Republic of Côte d’Ivoire’s Sukuk was arranged by the Islamic Corporation for Private Sector Development (ICD), a subsidiary of the Islamic Development Bank.
The Republic of Côte d’Ivoire and the ICD signed an agreement in April 2015 for the implementation of a five-year Sukuk programme for CFA 300 billion to be issued in two equal phases of CFA 150 billion each between 2015 and 2020, in the framework of the financing of the Government’s National Development Plan (NDP).