Clifford Chance advises Republic of Senegal

Clifford Chance has advised the Republic of Senegal on its inaugural CFA100 billion (approximately USD200 million) sukuk issuance, thefirst major sukuk issuance by a sovereign in Africa. The first of its kind deal intends to enable Senegal to attract new funding using Shari'ah compliant principles.

The sukuk was structured as an amortising sukuk al-ijara whereby the Republic of Senegal granted a 99 year usufruct over certain of its assets and agreed to lease them back in return for making rental payments to investors. The transaction was guaranteed by the Republic of Senegal.

Jeddah-based Islamic Corporation for Private Sector Development (member of the Islamic Development Bank Group) and Citi were the arrangers on the deal.

The Clifford Chance team advising the Republic of Senegal was led by Qudeer Latif (partner, global head of Islamic Finance) and consisted of Mustapha Mourahib (office managing partner, Casablanca), Shauaib Mirza (senior associate, Dubai) and Ouns Lemseffer (associate, Casablanca).