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Malaysia's Bank Islam issued its first sukuk tranche worth 300 million ringgit ($83.13 million) under its 1 billion ringgit sukuk murabahah programme, BIMB Holdings Bhd said on Wednesday. The tranche has a 10-year tenure and could only be redeemed after 5 years. Proceeds will be used to finance its banking activities and working capital, all of which would be sharia compliant.

A rally in Malaysia’s two-year Islamic bonds lost its key driver after central bank Governor Zeti Akthar Aziz seemed to rule out an interest-rate cut. Malaysia’s borrowing costs are accommodative and the ringgit is undervalued, Zeti said. Maybank Investment Bank said there’s limited room for further declines in short-end yields, after they fell five times faster than those on 10-year notes in 2015. Franklin Templeton Investments Malaysia sees investors switching to longer tenors and forecasts no policy change this year. In the absence of any events that may lead to GDP falling below Bank Negara’s target, a cut in the overnight policy rate is considered unnecessary at this juncture.

The Kuala Lumpur-based Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) has released final guidance on liquidity risk management for Islamic banks, which may spur national authorities to issue more sukuk and establish sharia-compliant deposit insurance schemes. The guidance note, known as GN-6, clarifies the tools that Islamic banks can use to meet Basel III regulatory requirements, now being phased in for both conventional and sharia-compliant banks around the world. It defines the types of high-quality liquid assets (HQLA) that Islamic banks can hold and the weights that should be assigned to Islamic deposits.

The Government of Malaysia sold the world's first 30-year sovereign sukuk yesterday and, in the process, shrugged off domestic woes to establish a long-dated benchmark Islamic curve for other sovereigns to follow. The 30-year was part of a two-tranche offering of US$1.5bn in Islamic 144A/Reg S bonds to the international markets at a time when 1MDB's M$41.9bn debt woes threaten to derail the government's bid to rein in its fiscal and budget deficits. Malaysia stayed disciplined and kept to its initially targeted issue size of US$1.5bn split between the US$1bn 10-year note and the US$500m 30-year note. The 2025s, priced to yield 115bp over US Treasuries, rallied to 112bp/109bp and the 2045s, priced at 170bp, traded at 164bp/161bp.

Middle East buyers took up only 2% of the 30 year sovereign Sukuk issued by Malaysia (the 10 year issuance allocation consisted of 24% Middle East buyers). This low take up by Middle East can be read a few ways: 1. Sukuk primary subscribers remain hold to maturity investors, and a 30-year note was too long for Middle East buyers to commit to. 2. The drop in price of oil is hurting and Gulf investors are planning only up to a ten year horizon. 3. With the issuance being oversubscribed and attracting interest of over US$9 billion, Malaysia decided to be give Gulf investors only the shorter term ten year issuance. 3. CIMB and Standard Chartered did a great job of marketing to Asian buyers, whilst HSBC did a less stellar job in the Middle East market.

Jordan chose the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), an arm of the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank, to support the country's debut sovereign issue of sukuk. The ICD will provide "transaction technical support" for the domestic issue of Jordanian dinar-denominated sukuk, which is expected this year. The sukuk will be used to absorb excess liquidity held by Jordan's Islamic banks, which is estimated to total 1.4 billion dinars ($2 billion). Khaled Al-Aboodi, chief executive of the ICD, said the issue would help to develop Jordan's capital market and provide an alternative to its Treasury bills for investment by Islamic banks.

The Government of Malaysia kicked off bookbuilding on its much-anticipated sukuk this morning, showing tenors of 10 and 30 years at guidance of around 135bp and 185bp over US Treasuries, respectively. The 144A/Reg S offering follows a week of roadshows that ended in New York yesterday evening. Based on guidance alone, the sovereign is providing a small pick-up, but, if demand proves robust, this is likely to be narrowed. Malaysia Sovereign Sukuk will be the issuer of the Islamic notes, and the Government of Malaysia, rated A3/A- (Moody's/ S&P), will be the obligor. Proceeds will be used for the government's general purposes, including the redemption of an existing US$1.25bn trust certificates due this year.

RAM Rating Services expects new global sukuk issuance to remain fairly resilient in 2015 at around US$100bil to US$120bil when compared with 2014’s US$116.23bil. The rating agency said this was despite the challenging environment for Malaysia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) amid the steep fall in global oil prices since last year. RAM Ratings said geopolitical risks in the GCC, Europe’s quantitative-easing programme and the rate increase by the US Federal Reserve this year have compounded the uncertainties for GCC sukuk issuers and their potential investors. Perhaps the next leap for global sukuk will materialise when GCC sovereign wealth funds reallocate more of their portfolios to invest in sukuk from Asia, Europe, the US and other non-OIC nations.

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index is at 118.53448 points, up from 117.52672 at the end of last month and 115.79726 at the end of last year. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 117.5576 against 116.23259 at end-March and 113.69014 at end-2014. Sukuk in the pipeline include: Malaysia's Axis REIT said in early April that it had expanded its sukuk programme to 3.0 billion ringgit ($818 million) from 300 million ringgit, and extended the length to perpetual from 15 years. Kazakhstan's Finance Ministry is expected soon to propose a draft law allowing its first sovereign sukuk issue, which will probably take place early next year.

CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. plans to sell a sukuk backed by a pool of loans, becoming the world’s first Islamic bank to sell the type of collateralised debt that contributed to the global financial crisis. The Malaysian lender is seeking to raise RM1 billion (US$275 million) from an offering of five-year notes this quarter, CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd.’s Chief Executive Officer Badlisyah Abdul Ghani said. The securitized debt will diversify funding options in the Islamic finance industry. CIMB Islamic’s new notes will be sold via private placement to investors who are comfortable with this type of security, CEO Badlisyah added.

A Taliworks Corporation Bhd joint venture has received the Securities Commission’s approval for the proposed issuance of the RM210mil Sukuk Murabahah. Taliworks said the Sukuk would be issued by Grand Sepadu (NK) Sdn Bhd, a joint venture in which it has a 75%. The proceeds from the issuance of the Sukuk Murabahah will be utilised to facilitate the roll-over of the short term syndicated bridging loan facility of up to RM200mil undertaken by GSNK into the Sukuk Murabahah and for working capital purposes. Taliworks said Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd is the principal adviser and lead arranger for the Sukuk Murabahah.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi managed around $3.9 billion (Dh14.3 billion) of international Sukuk issuance in the first quarter of 2015, representing about 69 per cent of the global market by value. In the first three months of 2015, NBAD worked on four major deals. In addition to acting as a bookrunner on the UKEF-backed Sukuk closed by Emirates Airlines, the Bank also acted as Joint Bookrunner on International Sukuk issuances by Dubai Islamic Bank, Islamic Development Bank and the Government of Ras Al Khaimah.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has assigned its preliminary 'A-' issue rating to the proposed US dollar-denominated Sukuk trust certificates to be issued by Malaysia Sovereign Sukuk Bhd. The ratings agency said Malaysia Sovereign Sukuk Bhd. is a special-purpose company incorporated in Malaysia for issuing sukuk trust certificates. Under this arrangement, the issuer will enter into an asset sale and purchase agreement for not less than 26% of the issued amount, a grant of rights to services agreement for no more than 26% of the issued amount, and Murabaha agreement agreement for not more than 48% of the issued amount with Malaysia.

The G20 group of nations' decision to examine the use of sukuk to finance infrastructure investment could eventually spur a big increase in the size of the market, Fitch Ratings says. But several significant challenges would need to be overcome first, most importantly finding a legal structure that would be acceptable to governments, investors and the sukuk's Sharia boards. One of the main uncertainties is whether sovereign issuers will be willing to directly pledge infrastructure assets to sukuk investors or accept the most common structure, known as Ijarah sukuk. Alternative structures could be found, but it would take longer to achieve and could see slower take-up, especially as innovative structures would have to be approved by a Sharia board.

The Islamic debt market in Jordan is set to capitalise on growing worldwide interest in sukuk after long-awaited regulations allowing banks to issue and buy the financial instrument have been put in place. Only one corporate sharia-compliant bond has been issued so far in Jordan, a seven-year, JD85 million ($119.8 million) security launched by Al Rahji Cement in 2011, while the government has yet to tap the market with an Islamic sovereign bond. However, the passage of the sukuk law and the government's request in June last year for assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency to launch an Islamic bond suggest Jordan is intent on entering the market in the near future.

This is Ras Al Khaimah's first sukuk issuance since October 2013, when the UAE emirate of Ras Al Khaimah sukuk was priced at 3.297% (MS+175bps) with a total of USD500m which garnered orders over USD5bn, which represents much stronger demand than the currently launched 10y sukuk. Also launching this week was the Emirates airlines sukuk which is to fund the orders for A380-800, as Emirates seeks USD107.5bn worth of aircrafts from Boeing and Airbus. This is the first time for UK Export Finance (UKEF) to guarantee a sukuk.

Ras Al Khaimah is planning to open books on a 10-year, US dollar-denominated sukuk – a sign of the local economy’s continued development. A document from lead arrangers Al Hilal Bank, Citigroup, J.P.Morgan and National Bank of Abu Dhabi outlines meetings have been arranged for investors, with the final one set for next Monday in London. It is thought that the emirate is planning a benchmark size offer, which could be upwards of $500 million (£337.4 million). Two years ago figures showed that property values in Ras Al Khaimah grew by 16%. With this ongoing investment, the strength of a sukuk, and with more people moving to the area to live as well as for vacations, investors could be set to see greater rates of returns over the next few years.

The Malaysian Islamic banking arm of HSBC Holdings has raised 750 million ringgit ($205 million) from the sale of 5-year Islamic bonds at a yield of 4.24 percent. The sale is the third tranche of the lender's overall 3 billion ringgit sukuk programme, sold using an agency-based structure known as 'wakala'. HSBC Amanah Malaysia Bhd pulled in strong demand, with the final book exceeding 1.38 billion ringgit at a bid-to-cover ratio of 1.84 times. Final pricing came at the low end of guidance, which started at 4.22-4.28 percent. As orders poured in, the guidance was tightened to 4.22-4.25 percent within a few hours after books were opened.

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index is at 117.36419 points, down from 117.49811 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 116.08405 against 115.48693 at the end of February and 113.69014 at end-2014. Some of the sukuk in the pipeline are: Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia plans to issue $500 million worth of sukuk in May to refinance $350 million in loans maturing in June. Besides, Turkey's Capital Markets Board approved the issuance of 2.05 billion ringgit ($554 million) of sukuk by Turkiye Finans Katilim Bankasi.

The Malaysian Islamic banking section of HSBC Holdings has tapped the Islamic bonds (sukuk) market last Friday, as part of a S$1.1 billion sukuk programme. According to Reuters, the bank planned to raise up to 500 million ringgit worth of sukuk, using an agency-based structure known as 'wakala'.
The transaction ist he first issuance of sukuk by HSBC Amanah Malaysia Berhad since October and September 2012. HSBC Amanah has appointed HSBC as lead arranger with Hong Leong Islamic Bank and Maybank Investment Bank as joint lead managers for the sale.