by Daniel Pipes
June 16
These problems continue today, as the Wall Street Journal's Stephen Fidler explains in "Defaults Pose Latest Snag In Islamic-Bond Market":
The once-booming market for Islamic-friendly bonds, having suffered a contraction amid the credit crisis, now faces a new challenge: default. The fledgling market in recent months experienced its first two defaults, and they aren't expected to be the last as issuers like Saad Group hit financial difficulties. This is taking investors and courts into uncharted territory as they seek to apply Western laws to bonds that were designed to comply with Islamic law, or Shariah. …
In October, East Cameron Gas Co. filed for bankruptcy protection after its offshore Louisiana oil and gas wells failed to yield the expected returns, partly because of hurricane damage. Some $167.8 million of sukuk bonds were affected. And last month, Investment Dar Co., a Kuwaiti investment company that owns a 50% stake in luxury-car maker Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd., missed a payment on a $100 million sukuk, becoming the first company from the Middle East to default on Islamic bonds. …
In what could prove to be a test case, a bankruptcy judge in Louisiana is deciding the fate of holders of bonds tied to bankrupt energy firm East Cameron Partners LP, which in 2006 became the first U.S. company to issue the most popular type of Islamic-friendly instrument, known as a sukuk. One question: whether the bondholders actually own a portion of the company's oil and gas. As such cases work their way through courts, or are resolved without court intervention, "they may give some guidance to investors on the default of sukuk and how this would be resolved," says Mohamed Damak, an analyst with ratings firm Standard & Poor's in Paris.
Source: Daniel Pipes
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