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Badlisyah Abdul Ghani: moving into GCC sukuk markets |
In 2006 Islamic finance in Asia started to change. The expansion of Shariah-compliant deals, and the development of the Islamic financial centre in Malaysia should help develop Islamic finance in the region. CIMB is leading the way in many fields. Despite a large project finance deal led by RHB Islamic in 2006, CIMB is clearly dominant in the region. With more than 100 Islamic professionals, size and experience give the bank the lead over competitors. Three deals illustrate CIMB’s impressive achievements in 2006: a musharaka sukuk for Projek Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan (Plus), an exchangeable sukuk for Khazanah, and a combined musharaka CP/MTN programme for Rantau Abang Capital. Further sukuks meant that CIMB underwrote M$25 billion-worth ($7.1 billion) of deals. They also demonstrate CIMB’s distribution capabilities, selling to its network of investors in the Middle East and Malaysia.
The musharaka sukuk for Plus worth M$9.8 billion had CIMB as the sole lead arranger. The deal required a series of financing consents, most of which received 100% approval from voting financiers.