KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 3): SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd (SKPB) will be offering its first tranche of the inaugural Multi-Currency Islamic Medium Terms Notes Programme amounted to US$200 million in nominal value on Sept 8.

The Sukuk offering is the first to be launched under the new Securities Commission’s (SC) Guidelines on Unlisted Capital Market Products under the Lodge and Launch Framework effective from June 15, 2015 (LOLA Framework).

SKPB, through its wholly-owned subsidiary SapuraKencana TMC Sdn Bhd (SKTMC), announced the signing of the transaction documents for the US dollar-denominated sukuk programme today.

Proceeds raised will be utilised to partly refinance SKTMC’s existing financing. The issue is not rated and is structured based on the Shariah principle of Commodity Murabahah (via Tawarruq arrangement), according to the statement today.

Its president and the group chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin said, “The initial tranche of the US dollar Sukuk to be launched marks the group’s first unrated US dollar offerings and further reaffirms our commitment in promoting Shariah compliant financing.”

“The successful launch of the Sukuk will further optimise the group’s capital structure and create a benchmark for SKPB’s future Sukuk issuance under this programme,” he said.

Maybank Group president and CEO Datuk Abdul Farid Alias said, “This signing ceremony goes beyond the formalisation of a financing agreement; it is also a bold statement of confidence, mettle and optimism that solidifies the financial partnership between Maybank and SKPB.”

“This issuance marks another benchmark for Maybank Investment Bank Bhd as this will be the first unrated US dollar Sukuk to be raised onshore,” he said.

Maybank Investment Bank is the principal adviser, lead arranger and also the lead manager for the first issuance under the Multi-Currency Sukuk Programme.

SKPB (fundamental: 0.85; valuation: 1.8) closed 8 sen or 4.73% higher at RM1.77, for a market capitalisation of RM10.13 billion.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)