KUALA LUMPUR: Gulf Investment Corp GSC, Kuwait (GIC), issued RM750mil (US$253mil) under its existing 20-year RM3.5bil (US$1.18bil) sukuk wakalah bi istithmar medium term notes programme (GIC sukuk).
AmInvestment Bank Bhd acted as the sole lead manager for this GIC sukuk issuance with AmIslamic Bank Bhd appointed as the transaction agent to facilitate the commodity trading via the Suq Al-Sila’ trading platform on Bursa Malaysia.
This is the second issuance from the GIC sukuk and the fourth issuance from GIC in Malaysia since 2008.
The GIC sukuk has been assigned a long term rating of AAA by RAM Rating Services Bhd.
This second issuance from the GIC sukuk in 2011 has a tenure of 5 years and carries a semi-annual profit payment of 4.9% per annum.
In March this year, GIC sold its first tranche of RM600mil (US$202mil) 5-year GIC sukuk in Malaysia at a yield of 5.25% per annum.
Malaysia’s benchmark five-year Islamic government securities last fetched a yield of 3.59% per annum.
Despite the recent uncertainties in the global markets, the issuing pricing process was competitive and managed to come in tighter than the issuance in March, meeting with GIC’s current target pricing levels.
A broad range of local investors including fund managers, insurance companies, financial institutions and government agencies participated in the issue which represents the largest issue launched to date by GIC.
In 2008, GIC issued its inaugural dual tranche conventional bonds with tenures of five years (RM600mil or US$202mil) and 15 years (RM400mil or US$135mil) in the Malaysian capital markets, the first by a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) issuer.
The GIC sukuk is based on the underlying syariah principles of wakalah (agency) and istithmar (investment).
GIC, as the issuer, will issue the sukuk in one or several series under a programme.
The investors will provide capital as investment for their subscription of a particular series.
The 20-year programme will provide GIC greater flexibility to issue sukuk of varying tenures of up to 10 years on a ‘need to’ basis from time to time to fund its general working capital requirements that conform to syariah principles at competitive pricing given its strong credit rating, underscored by its strengthening credit fundamentals and improved asset quality.
Gulf Investment Corp is a leading financial institution offering a comprehensive range of financial services to promote private enterprise and support economic growth in the GCC region.(The Star Online)
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