Clifford Chance advises on first ever US dollar-denominated sukuk issuance by a Japanese corporation

Clifford Chance advises on first ever US dollar-denominated sukuk issuance by a Japanese corporation

International law firm Clifford Chance has advised Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) Berhad as Lead Manager on Nomura's US$100,000,000 sukuk-al-ijara transaction.

July 13, 2010 3:24 by Rasha Reslan

Clifford Chance advised Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) Berhad (“KFH Malaysia”) as Lead Manager in relation to Nomura Holdings’ US$100,000,000 two year benchmark sukuk-al-ijara certificates issued on 13 July 2010. The sukuk certificates which are due in 2012 yield a profit rate of 1.60% above 6-month LIBOR and represent the first sukuk issuance out of Malaysia by a Japanese multinational corporation.

The sukuk certificates have been assigned a rating of BBB+ by Standard and Poor’s. The sukuk certificates were issued outside of the United States in compliance with Regulation S of the United States Securities Act of 1933 (as amended) and are to be listed on the Bursa Malaysia under an exempt regime.

The Clifford Chance English law team was led by partner and Head of Islamic Finance Qudeer Latif in Dubai and partner Reiko Sakimura in Tokyo. They were supported by partner and Head of Capital Markets Middle East Debashis Dey, counsel Paul McViety, senior associates Alex Roussos and Jane Son and associates Claire Barker, Mark Dickinson, Mark Valenzia, Hussain Shalchi and Charles Wakiwaka. The Malaysian office of Zaid Ibrahim & Co acted as transaction counsel as to Malaysian law. The Tokyo office of Mori Hamada & Matsumoto advised Nomura as to Japanese law and White & Case advised Nomura as to English law. A separate Clifford Chance team in Hong Kong comprised of Anthony Oakes and Boon Teck Yeo advised Citicorp International Limited in its capacity as Delegate.

Qudeer Latif commented that “We are delighted to have worked with KFH Malaysia and Nomura on their debut sukuk issuance. This exciting transaction represents a number of firsts and reflects the increasing globalisation of Islamic finance, both for issuers and investors.”

Explaining the milestone initiative, Puan Jamelah Jamaluddin the Chief Executive officer of KFH Malaysia said, “Our cooperation with one of Japan’s leading financial services groups demonstrates Nomura’s trust in KFH Malaysia, and in the strength of Islamic finance products. As one of the leaders in the sukuk and capital markets, the Kuwait Finance House Group (KFH) has been involved in sukuk issuance for companies from a wide range of industries worldwide. All our sukuk are structured under globally Shari’a compliant principles. KFH has been in operation for over 30 years and our partners can benefit from our wide pool of resources and significant network. For this Sukuk al-Ijarah, we targeted investors from Asia Pacific, the Middle East and London.”