Exim Bank price US$300m sukuk

PETALING JAYA (Feb 12, 2014): Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Bhd (Mexim), via Exim Sukuk Malaysia Bhd, has successful priced its US$300 million (RM1 billion), five-year Reg-S sukuk (sukuk) issuance at 140 basis points over US Treasuries (UST).
The inaugural sukuk, issued pursuant to its US$1 billion multicurrency sukuk issuance programme, is equivalent to an all-in yield of 2.874% per annum, which was tightened from the initial price guidance of 165 basis points over UST.
The sukuk was executed intra-day following strong investor demand, Exim Bank said in a statement yesterday.
"The sukuk was oversubscribed by approximately 10 times attracting more than US$3 billion orders and was fully distributed to over 185 Islamic and conventional investors," it said.
The allocation was well-spread out globally with over 19% of the issue distributed to the Middle East investors, 65% to Asian investors and the remaining 16% to European investors.
"We are pleased that our inaugural USD sukuk issuance in Malaysia, which also represents the world's first Exim Bank to issue USD sukuk, received an overwhelming response from investors globally," president and CEO of Mexim Datuk Adissadikin Ali said.
"The issuance is in line with Mexim's initiatives to grow its Islamic finance business and would position Mexim to capture opportunities in the Islamic financial markets. The sukuk also represents Mexim's commitment to support the government's ongoing initiatives and efforts to position Malaysia as an international Islamic finance marketplace," he added.
Proceeds from the sukuk will be used for Mexim's syariah-compliant working capital, general banking and financing activities.
Mexim's sukuk is structured under the syariah principle of Wakala comprising of a tangible asset component; and a Murabaha receivable component arising from a sale of syariah-compliant commodities.
The issue was accorded credit ratings of A- by Fitch Ratings and A3 by Moody's, which are on par with the Malaysian sovereign ratings.
The sukuk will be listed on Labuan International Financial Exchange Inc and Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited.
BNP Paribas Malaysia Bhd (BNP), CIMB Investment Bank Bhd, HSBC Amanah Malaysia Bhd and Maybank Investment Bank Bhd (Maybank IB) are the joint principal advisers, while BNP, CIMB Bank (L) Limited (CIMB Labuan), HSBC Amanah Malaysia Bhd and Maybank IB are the joint lead arrangers for the programme.
BNP Paribas, Hong Kong Branch, CIMB Labuan, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited and Maybank IB were appointed as joint lead managers for the sukuk issuance under the programme.