Emirates, the world’s largest airline by international passenger numbers, is talking to banks about raising as much as $1bn through an Islamic bond sale that could happen in the first half of 2018, people familiar with the matter said. The Dubai government-owned carrier joins a list of regional issuers seeking funding from international debt markets before higher US interest rates push up borrowing costs. International bonds are particularly popular as cheap oil limits local banks’ ability to underwrite large debt sales or to extend loans. Emirates, which has built its Dubai operations into a hub for transcontinental traffic between the US, Europe and Asia, has been a regular borrower in the aircraft-financing loan market. Another reason the company is seeking a sukuk is that it wants to diversify its funding, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private. "Emirates always seeks diverse sources of funding, including bank finance, operating leases, Islami...
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