International law firm Lovells has acted as Sharia transaction counsel and English law counsel to Morgan Stanley as global coordinator, and to CIMB, Citi and Morgan Stanley as lead managers, on the inaugural sukuk for Petroliam Nasional Berhad ("PETRONAS"). The US$1.5bn offering is to be triple-listed on the Euro-MTF market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, Labuan International Financial Exchange and Bursa Malaysia (Exempt Regime).
The sukuk is being issued by PETRONAS Global Sukuk Ltd. concurrently with a US$3bn bond being issued by PETRONAS Capital Limited. Both the sukuk and the bond comply with Regulation S and Rule 144A requirements for issuance. The size of the issue, the widespread investor interest from Malaysia, the Middle East and America and the involvement of a multinational corporation such as PETRONAS make this a truly global issuance.
The transaction is one of the two largest global sukuks ever done and is believed to be the first global corporate sukuk of 2009. Further, it is also thought to be the largest Asia issuance in the last 5 years and the second largest Asia issuance ever (excluding issuances in Japan).
The Lovells team was led by Lovells' Global Head of Islamic Finance, Rahail Ali, who was assisted by of counsel Imran Mufti, senior associate Daniel Rankin, associates Roger Fankhauser and Sema Kandemir and trainee solicitor Mark Brighouse out of the Dubai office. Lovells' London and Singapore offices also advised The Bank of New York Mellon in its roles as agents and as delegate trustee for the sukuk.
Speaking today Rahail Ali said:
"We are very happy to have worked with the joint lead managers to put together this debut sukuk for PETRONAS, a corporate with a reputation as a world-class player in the oil and gas market that is entering the sukuk space for the first time. This rounds off an excellent season for us, having advised on the first sukuk buy-back for Dubai Islamic Bank, the first sovereign sukuk of 2009 for the Kingdom of Bahrain and the first global issuance of 2009. That a corporate of PETRONAS's pedigree has entered the sukuk market at this time makes this a very significant transaction."
Lovells' capital markets team has been at the forefront of cutting-edge developments in the sukuk arena, having previously advised on landmark sukuk including the first international musharaka, mudarabah, convertible and exchangeable sukuk offerings and, earlier this year, the first sukuk "buy-back".
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For further information, please contact:
Fred Banning
PR Adviser
Lovells LLP
Atlantic House
Holborn Viaduct
London
EC1A 2FG
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7296 2000
Direct: +44 (0) 20 7296 2860
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7296 2001
Email: fred.banning@lovells.com
© Press Release 2009
