Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Nasdaq Dubai welcomes the first sukuk listing by the Republic of the Philippines “ROP Sukuk Trust”, underscoring the exchange’s reputation as the preferred choice for sovereign issuances.

The Republic of Philippines has chosen Nasdaq Dubai for listing its maiden sukuk, worth $1 billion of Trust Certificates due in 2029. The debut listing solidifies the exchange’s standing as a premier global platform for financial listings and features the Philippines, one of Asia’s most active sovereign debt issuers, reflecting the confidence in Nasdaq Dubai’s advanced platform, that focuses on offering a world class listing venue to leading regional and global issuers.

The total value of sukuk issuances listed on Nasdaq Dubai now stands at $85.11 billion, marking yet another successful achievement in Nasdaq Dubai’s journey towards expanding its role as a global centre for sukuk issuances and amplifying its strategic significance to the Islamic finance market. Dubai is recognized as one of the world’s largest centres for sukuk issuances, with a total of USD 87.61 billion, in alignment with the government’s vision to become the international hub of the Islamic economy.

To commemorate the issuance, Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno of the Republic of the Philippines’ Department of Finance and Hamed Ali, CEO of Nasdaq Dubai and Dubai Financial Market (DFM), rang the market opening bell at Nasdaq Dubai.

Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno of the Republic of the Philippines’ Department of Finance said: “The listing of the ROP’s maiden sukuk issuance in Nasdaq Dubai affirms the Philippine Government’s commitment to further its ties with the Gulf Cooperation Council. This marks a significant step towards enhancing the Islamic finance market in the Philippines, bearing in mind its importance in unlocking the potential of Southern Philippines and in the deepening of economic ties with the Arab world.”

Commenting on the significance of ROP Sukuk Trust Republic of the Philippines’ maiden sukuk issuance, Hamed Ali, CEO of Nasdaq Dubai and DFM said: “This issuance not only serves as an opportunity to deepen our ties with the Philippines but also marks a key milestone in our joint efforts to broaden Islamic capital markets. At Nasdaq Dubai, we focus on offering a world class listing venue to leading regional and global issuers we remain dedicated to streamlining the listing process for our issuers, ensuring it is seamless and efficient. Capitalizing on a substantial and diverse investor base, Dubai’s capital markets offer unique exposure and access to both regional and international investors. We are committed to extending this partnership further in the aim we collectively achieve the full potential of our collaboration.”

With a total debt issuance value of $127.41 billion, comprising USD 42.30 billion in bond listings and $85.11 billion in sukuk issuances, Nasdaq Dubai cements its position as a leading exchange for fixed income listings.

Nasdaq Dubai remains steadfast in its mission to facilitate economic growth, connect issuers with a diverse investor base, and contribute to the ongoing development of the global Islamic finance market.

Nasdaq Dubai is the international financial exchange serving the region between Western Europe and East Asia. It welcomes regional as well as global issuers that seek regional and international investment. The exchange currently lists shares, derivatives, Sukuk (Islamic bonds), conventional bonds and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS). The majority shareholder of Nasdaq Dubai is Dubai Financial Market with a two-thirds stake. Borse Dubai owns one third of the shares. The regulator of Nasdaq Dubai is the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).

Meanwhile, Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the world’s digital infrastructure company, today announced plans to expand support for advanced liquid cooling technologies-like direct-to-chip-to more than 100 of its International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers in more than 45 metros around the world. This builds on Equinix’s existing offering that supports liquid-to-air cooling, through in-rack heat exchangers, at nearly every IBX today. This expansion will enable more businesses to use the most performant cooling technologies for the powerful, high-density hardware that supports compute-intensive workloads like artificial intelligence (AI).

“We have seen an increase in demand for data-intensive and high-compute applications like AI,” said Sean Graham, Research Director, Cloud to Edge Datacenter Trends at IDC. “The hardware required to run these new applications is pushing up densities inside data centers and can no longer be efficiently cooled by traditional techniques. We are seeing a growing demand for liquid-cooled solutions from enterprises, and it is essential that data center providers, like Equinix, can support this next generation of cooling solutions.”