Sukuk causes summer holidays cancellation in the Gulf

Gulf bankers arranging Islamic bond sales have had to cancel or postpone holidays to cope with a deluge of deals during the summer, traditionally a quiet time for business in a region winding down to cope with the heat.

Sales of Islamic bonds, or sukuk, have surged in the last year as more of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims seek investment vehicles that comply with their beliefs.

"We thought summer was going to be very quiet. We applied for our vacation ... all of us just cancelled. We are not going to go anywhere. There's a huge number of sukuk coming," Jaafar Badwan of Bahrain's Unicorn Investment Bank said.

Bankers' estimates for global sukuk sales this year range from $27 billion to $50 billion, up from $10.2 billion last year, according to ratings agency Moody's.

Sukuk comply with Islam's ban on lending on interest and the trading of debt, and are backed by physical assets.

Via Yahoo Asia.