KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 13): Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BIMB Holdings Bhd, has issued the third tranche of the debt paper amounting to RM300 million under its subordinated sukuk murabahah programme.

According to its filing with Bursa Malaysia today, the sukuk has a tenure of 10 years, which is non-callable for five years, and is rated A1 (stable) by RAM Rating Services Bhd.

Bank Islam said the proceeds from the sukuk issuance will be utilised to finance its Islamic Banking activities, working capital requirements and other corporate purposes, stressing that all utilisation will be Syariah-compliant. If required, the proceeds will also be used to redeem any outstanding from the previous sukuk issuances under the programme.

"The Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah issued under the Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah Programme shall qualify as Tier 2 regulatory capital of Bank Islam in compliance with Bank Negara Malaysia’s Capital Adequacy Framework for Islamic Banks (Capital Components). Hence, it will enhance the capital adequacy of the bank in line with the requirements under Basel III," it added.

The Subordinated Sukuk Murabahah Programme of up to RM1 billion in nominal value has been approved by Bank Negara Malaysia and Securities Commission Malaysia on Oct 10, 2014.

Following the approval, Bank Islam issued the first tranche amounting to RM300 million on April 22, 2015 and the second tranche amounting to RM400 million on Dec 15, 2015.