In an UK government innovation, this week saw delivery of the fourth and final Airbus A380 aircraft to be funded under the world’s first corporate sukuk to be guaranteed by a western government. The aircraft was delivered to Emirates this week at Hamburg Airport with the bond guaranteed by UKEF.

The $913 million sukuk issuance marks a triple first, as well as being the first example of a sukuk sold in the debt capital markets to be backed by an export credit agency, it is also the first time a sukuk has been used to pre-fund the sale of aircraft, and the largest capital markets offering of any kind for aviation to carry an ECA guarantee.

It follows the Prime Minister David Cameron’s ambition for London to stand alongside Dubai and Kuala Lumpur as one of the great capitals of Islamic Finance anywhere in the world.