Malaysian telecoms group Axiata has started marketing two-year yuan-denominated Islamic bonds (sukuk) at a yield guidance of 4%, according to media reports citing unnamed sources.
This offering is only the second ever yuan-denominated sukuk, the reports…
Malaysian telecoms group Axiata has started marketing two-year yuan-denominated Islamic bonds (sukuk) at a yield guidance of 4%, according to media reports citing unnamed sources.
This offering is only the second ever yuan-denominated sukuk, the reports noted, following a Yn500m (US$79m) Islamic bond by Khazanah Nasional, the investment holding arm of the Malaysian government, in October last year.
According to Dow Jones citing a source close to the matter, the Axiata offering attracted Yn1bn (US$158m) worth of orders within the first hour of subscription.
The transaction is the first drawdown under Axiata’s US$1.5bn Islamic bond programme announced in mid-July. The company claimed, at the time, to be the first Asian telecoms company to set up such a multi-currency sukuk programme.
The programme is “in line with Axiata’s commitment to support the government’s ongoing initiatives and efforts in positioning Malaysia as an international Islamic financial centre,” Jamaludin Ibrahim, the company’s CEO, stated back then.
The operator also said proceeds would provide it with “further financial agility for the long term.”
CIMB Bank, HSBC, and Merrill Lynch are joint lead arrangers for the programme.
Standard & Poor’s today assigned a ‘BBB-‘ rating to a proposed issue, saying it is the same as that on the group’s senior unsecured notes. “This is because the obligations to the sukuk holders will rank pari passu with the senior unsecured debt obligations of Axiata Group,” it explained.
Axiata was not immediately available for comment.
This offering comes a few weeks after Celcom Axiata, a subsidiary of Axiata, priced a RM5bn (US$1.6bn) sukuk issuance.
