US investors bought about half the $1.75 billion worth of 30-year bonds sold last week by Dubai port operator DP World, which was forced to give up American assets last year after a row in Washington over security.

The world's third largest container port operator also sold a $1.5 billion 10-year Islamic bond, or sukuk, last week, DP World said in a statement, confirming what sources said in New York last week.

Both bonds will be listed in London and on the Dubai International Financial Exchange, a new bourse set up by Dubai's government to encourage foreign companies to list in the world's biggest oil exporting region.

Only a quarter of the cash raised by the Islamic bond came from the Middle East, according to statement, an indication of the growing global interest in investments that comply with the religious beliefs of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims.

'The 30-year bond...is the largest long-dated bond to be issued in the Middle East region. It has an equally global subscriber base with over half of the subscription from the US,' DP World said.

DP World touched off a political firestorm in the US last year when its acquisition of British rival P&O gave it control of facilities at six US ports.

With Congress threatening to block the deal over national security concerns, DP World agreed to reliquish control of its US assets. In March it announced it had sold them to a unit of American International Group.

The 10-year bonds were priced at 1.15 percentage points over US Treasuries, while the 30-year bonds yielded 1.60 percentage points more than Treasuries, a source familiar with the transaction said in New York last week.

Barclays Capital, Citigroup Global Markets, Deutsche Bank Securities and Lehman Brothers were the joint lead managers of the sale.Reuters