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Unsatisfied with 1Malaysia Development Berhad's (1MDB) explanation, PKR lawmaker Rafizi Ramli today challenged the company to disclose details on how it used the sukuk funds. He said 1MDB last night failed to address his main query, which was what had happened to the RM1.6 billion from the RM2.4 billion sukuk issued through Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd in 2014. 1MDB yesterday denied Rafizi's remarks and insisted the RM2.4 billion sukuk had been utilised in accordance with its agreement. 1MDB reportedly said the sukuk had been used to partly finance the relocation of the air force base at Sungai Besi, pre-fund the fees and expenses of the sukuk programme, fund the requisite financing reserve accounts, and fund the working capital requirements of 1MDB Real Estate Sdn Bhd (now known as TRX City Sdn Bhd).

Khazanah Nasional Berhad has mandated Barclays, CIMB, Morgan Stanley and UBS to arrange a series of investor meetings for a US dollar sukuk offering. The roadshow will take place in Dubai on Sunday, Hong Kong on Monday, Singapore on Tuesday and London on Wednesday. The Reg S offering will be unrated and issued off the Multi-currency Islamic Securities Issuance Programme established by Danga Capital Berhad. Danga Capital is a special purpose financing vehicle initiated by Khazanah, the sovereign wealth fund of the government of Malaysia.

The global market for sukuk will remain at below – peak levels in 2016, Standard & Poor’s Rating Services forcast, predicting issuance to reach $50 billion – $55 billion in 2016, compared with $63.5 billion in 2015 and $116.4 billion in 2014. The correction started last year, mainly because the central bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia; BNM) stopped issuing. Excluding the BNM effect, sukuk issuance dropped by around 5% in 2015 from 2014. According to S&P, three main factors will shape the performance of the sukuk market in 2016: monetary policy developments in the US and Europe, the drop in oil prices, and the possible lifting of sanctions on Iran. The first two factors are likely to drain liquidity from global and local markets.

Ivory Coast offers inaugural CFA 150 billion Sukuk. The Sukuk is an amortising Sukuk al-Ijara and is targeted at local banks and institutional investors. It mirrors the Senegal Sukuk that Hogan Lovells advised on in 2014. Hogan Lovells' team was led by Global Head of Islamic Finance, Rahail Ali and Partner Imran Mufti. They were assisted by Partner Baptiste Gelpi, International Debt Capital Markets, Paris and Lina Bugaighis, Dubai. Hogan Lovells worked togehter with ICD for the issue. Imran Mufti commented that more sukuk from African issuers are expected in the near future. Zaky Sow, Sukuk Project Manager for ICD added that the Sukuk opens up a whole new stream of investment into the country.

Hogan Lovells has advised the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), as arranger, on the inaugural CFA150 Billion sukuk offering by the Government of Côte d'Ivoire. The sukuk is an amortising sukuk al-ijara and is targeted at local banks and institutional investors. It mirrors the successful Senegal sukuk that Hogan Lovells advised on in 2014. Hogan Lovells' team was led by Global Head of Islamic Finance, Rahail Ali and Partner Imran Mufti. They were assisted by Partner Baptiste Gelpi, International Debt Capital Markets, Paris and Lina Bugaighis, Dubai. Hogan Lovells is an international legal practice that includes Hogan Lovells International LLP, Hogan Lovells US LLP and their affiliated businesses.

About RM1.6 million of the RM2.4 billion sukuk 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)? issued through Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd in 2014 remains unaccounted for, says PKR's Rafizi Ramli. The RM2.4 billion sukuk was issued to pay for the relocation of the army base on Bandar Malaysia land, said Rafizi. Yet the state investment arm announced that the consortium purchasing 60% equity in Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd may assume 60% of the remaining RM1.9 billion cost of relocation of the Pangkalan Udara Kuala Lumpur (PUKL) relocation?. The total relocation cost of PUKL had actually been RM2.7 billion, so only RM800 million of the sukuk had been used so far to pay for PUKL's relocation costs, said Rafizi.

Jordan’s Ministry of Finance has prepared a plan of estimated issuance of government bonds for the year 2016 which puts net domestic borrowing for the current year at some JOD 896 million. Separately, the MoF has also revealed plans to issue Sukuk worth JOD 150 million to provide finance for the National Electric Power Company. Secretary-General of the Finance Ministry, Ezeddin Kanakriyeh, said the Sukuk would be tendered in two equal separate issuances. This indicative plan will be updated periodically in accordance with the requirements and developments in the light of the cash flow management plan prepared by the Ministry, which takes into consideration the value of the expected cash revenues and expenses through the implementation of the 2016 budget.

The emirate of Sharjah has picked six banks to arrange investor meetings starting next week ahead of a potential dollar-denominated sukuk issue, a document from lead arrangers showed on Wednesday. The sovereign has mandated Bank Of Sharjah, Barclays, Commerzbank, Dubai Islamic Bank, HSBC and Sharjah Islamic Bank to arrange the transaction. Investor meetings will be held starting Sunday in the Middle East, Asia and the United Kingdom and a deal will follow subject to market conditions, the document added.

Standard & Poor's Rating Services (S&P) expects sukuk issuance to remain at below-peak levels in 2016 mainly because Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the largest issuers of sukuk worldwide, has stopped issuing Islamic notes. In absence of its biggest issuer, the rating agency expects sukuk issuance to reach US$50 billion-US$55 billion (RM219.5 billion-RM241.45 billion) in 2016, compared with US$63.5 billion in 2015 and US$116.4 billion in 2014.
Excluding the BNM effect, S&P said sukuk issuance dropped by around 5% in 2015 from 2014. Three main factors are expected to shape the performance of the sukuk market in 2016: monetary policy developments in the US and Europe, the drop in oil prices, and the possible lifting of sanctions on Iran.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s goal of reining in the budget deficit looks set to get tougher as a unit of the nation’s biggest lender predicts borrowing costs on Islamic bonds will climb to a record. Maybank Islamic Asset Management says benchmark sukuk yields may rise to 5% this year should the United States raise interest rates to 1.25% from a maximum 0.5% now, and if investors price in further tightening in the following 12 months. Higher yields on government debt may complicate Najib’s efforts to fund a US$444bil development programme to build railways, roads and power plants. The ringgit is already down 2.2% in 2016 as a selloff in Chinese stocks sparked risk aversion.

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) is asking bankers to submit pitches for a US$3 billion (RM13 billion) sukuk programme, and proceeds will be used to fund overseas investments, including the purchase of a 30 per cent stake in Turkish power firm Gama Enerji AS for US$243 million. The company last issued dollar-denominated debt in 1996, when it sold 100-year conventional notes. Bankers’ proposals for TNB’s sukuk programme had to be submitted by the end of this week. TNB is rated “BBB+”, the third-lowest investment grade by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings. The yield on the company’s existing conventional dollar bonds due 2025 climbed 31 basis points last year to 4.39 per cent and was 4.33 per cent yesterday.

The National Commercial Bank (NCB) has settled an issuance of subordinated Additional Tier 1 Capital Sukuk on Wednesday 23 December 2015, in the amount of SAR 2.7 billion through a private placement offer in Saudi Arabia. The issuance is intended to strengthen the Bank's capital base in accordance with the Basel III framework and sustain its growth while maintaining healthy capital adequacy levels. Additionally, the Sukuk will continue to extend the maturity profile of NCB's liabilities while continuing to diversify its sources of funding. The Sukuk are perpetual securities with no fixed redemption date. However, NCB has the right to call the Sukuk on a predefined date. All required approvals from the regulatory authorities have been obtained for the issuance. NCB Capital Company acted as Sole Lead Manager.

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index closed last month at 117.01353, up from 115.79726 at the end of 2014. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 115.29446 points against 113.69014 at end-2014. Some of the sukuk in the pipeline are: Samalaju Industrial Port proposed a sukuk murabaha programme of up to 950 million ringgit ($221 million). Singapore's Vallianz Holdings said in mid-December that a subsidiary would refinance loans with a Saudi riyal-denominated sukuk issue of up to 1.1 billion riyals ($293 million). Malaysia's Wego Sdn Bhd proposed a sukuk musharaka issue of up to 210 million ringgit. Qatar's Barwa Bank listed a $2 billion Islamic bond programme on the Irish Stock Exchange, taking it a step closer to tapping the sukuk market for the first time.

As global Islamic bonds languish in the bleakest year for sales since 2010, the next 12 months look just as challenging. Malaysia’s CIMB Group Holdings Bhd ( Valuation: 1.65, Fundamental: 0.55), the top sukuk arranger worldwide for seven of the last nine years, predicts a pick up in 2016 to at least US$40 billion from 2015’s US$34.5 billion. The forecast is still 20% less than the record US$50.1 billion in 2012. Slowing economic growth could weigh on companies’ capital and their investment spending. Borrowers in the US$2 trillion Islamic finance industry also now face higher costs after the US raised interest rates for the first time in almost a decade and signaled more increases.

Between $3.3 to $4.5 trillion in investments each year will be needed to fund the Sustainable Development Goals, according to UN estimates. As one way to meet these staggering needs, the international development community is developing new results-focused financing instruments, some of which seek to mobilize untapped private sector capital and knowledge, while repositioning global economic and social challenges into investible opportunities. Impact bonds aren’t bonds in the traditional sense. Instead, they should be considered more as equity-like instruments that offer repayment to investors on the basis of results achieved.

The gap between the spending needs of developing countries and the pressure on financial institutions to carefully monitor their credit exposure in order to optimize their capital management driven by regulatory constraints on solvency, is creating opportunities for more diversified products of alternative funding. Considering promoting the Islamic bond market is on top of the agenda of credit risk management, thus creating room and greater opportunities of growth for Islamic products of asset based or backed instruments. This context provided the background for the Deloitte and IRTI-IDB Group executive workshop, “The corporate Sukuk market in Europe: mapping the pathway for an alternative financing”, recently held in London.

Malaysia will face pressure to sell global sukuk next year as $1.2 billion of Islamic debt matures in July and plunging oil prices erode fiscal revenue and currency reserves. RHB Investment Bank Bhd. and Union Investment Privatfonds GmbH see demand for a new Islamic bond holding up because of a scarcity of dollar sukuk and longer-term prospects for Malaysia’s finances. Prime Minister Najib Razak repeated a warning last week that government revenue for Asia’s only major net oil exporter could fall short of the official target by the equivalent of about $7 billion next year. Standard & Poor’s rates the nation A-, with a stable outlook on its credit rating.

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index is at 116.80989 points, down from 117.25342 at the end of last month but up from 115.79726 at the end of last year. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 114.94150 points against 115.35741 at end-November and 113.69014 at end-2014. Some of the sukuk in the pipeline are: Singapore's Vallianz Holdings said that a subsidiary would refinance loans with a Saudi riyal-denominated sukuk issue of up to 1.1 billion riyals ($293 million). Malaysia's Wego Sdn Bhd proposed a sukuk musharaka issue of up to 210 million ringgit ($49 million). Indonesian airline Garuda intends to raise $500 million through selling global bonds or sukuk next year to refinance debt.

BIMB Holdings Bhd's wholly-owned unit, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd, has issued the second tranche of the Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah amounting to RM400 million under the Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah Programme. The sukuk's tenure will be 10 years, with non-callable five years, and the maturity date will be Dec 15, 2025. The proceeds shall be used to finance Bank Islam's Islamic banking activities, working capital requirements and other corporate purposes and/or, if required, to redeem any outstanding Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah issued under the Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah Programme. The sukuk was rated 'A1/stable' by RAM Rating Services Bhd.

BIMB Holdings Bhd’s wholly-owned subsidiary Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd has issued the second tranche of the Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah amounting to RM400 million under the Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah Programme. BIMB said the second tranche has a tenure of 10 years non-callable five years, with its maturity date being Dec 15, 2025. The sukuk has been rated A1/stable by RAM Rating Services Bhd. The proceeds will be utilised to finance Bank Islam’s Islamic banking activities, working capital requirements and other corporate purposes and/or, if required, to redeem any outstanding Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah issued under the Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah Programme.