Linklaters and Clifford Chance (CC) have advised on the UK government's inaugural Islamic bond, the first sukuk issued by a European government.

The bond uses a Shari'a compliant leasing structure where the transaction is underpinned by rental income from three central UK government offices. 

The UK government attracted orders of over £2bn for the £200m bond, which carries a profit rate of 2.036% per annum.

A Linklaters team led by global head of Islamic finance Neil Miller, acted as sole structuring and documentation counsel, advising the government on capital markets, tax, regulatory and real estate aspects of the issue.

Elaine Keats and Richard O'Callaghan, capital markets partners in London and Dubai respectively, also worked on the issue.

Tax advice was provided by John Lindsay and Rhian Parker, both from the firm's London office.

CC advised HSBC in its role as structuring bank for the issue, as well as joint lead managers Barwa Bank, CIMB, HSBC, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Standard Chartered.

The CC team comprised global head of Islamic finance Qudeer Latif and Dubai capital markets partner Debashis Dey, alongside two London based partners, Chris Davies and Franc Pena.

Last week, Linklaters also took a role on Kenya's debut international bond issue, advising the underwiting banks on the largest debut African sovereign bond.

Kenya turned to Arnold & Porter for the deal, which raised $2bn, with partners Whitney Debevoise and Jeremy Willcocks, with Cynthia Mann providing tax advice and Ian Kirby providing advice on related litigation matters.

This follows the firm's role in advising Turkey on its $1.25bn (£780m) sukuk offering last October.

Linklaters was also involved in the Kenya issue, advising joint lead managers Barclays Bank, J.P. Morgan, QNB Capital and Standard Bank, as well as co-manager Dyer & Blair.