KUALA LUMPUR (May 4): S P Setia Bhd has proposed the establishment of an Islamic medium term note programme of up to RM3 billion in nominal value.

The property developer today lodged the Sukuk Wakalah Programme with the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) pursuant to the SC’s Guidelines on Unlisted Capital Market Products.

“The Sukuk Wakalah Programme allows for the issuance of rated and senior unsecured sukuk from time to time, subject to total outstanding amount of sukuk wakalah not exceeding RM3 billion at any point in time,” S P Setia said in a bourse filing.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Rating Corporation Bhd (MARC) has assigned a preliminary rating of AA-IS with a stable outlook to the sukuk programme.

"Proceeds from the proposed issuance will largely be used to fund capital injection into the group’s joint-venture Battersea Power Station project and refinance earlier borrowings undertaken to fund this project," MARC said in a statement.

HSBC Amanah Malaysia Berhad is the principal adviser, joint lead arranger, joint lead manager and shariah adviser for the the programme. Other joint lead arrangers and joint lead managers are Maybank Investment Bank Bhd and RHB Investment Bank Bhd.

S P Setia shares closed unchanged at RM1.02 today, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM4.14 billion. The counter saw 2.29 million shares traded.