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Malaysia named Islamic issuer of the year; three Islamic industry stalwarts honoured
The Government of Malaysia (GOM) led the winners in The Asset Triple A Islamic Finance Awards 2012 as chosen by the board of editors at The Asset magazine. Three distinguished Islamic industry stalwarts are cited with leadership awards: Dato’ Dr Abdul Halim Ismail, currently deputy chairman of the Shariah Advisory Council of Bank Negara Malaysia; Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, CEO of CIMB Islamic Bank as Islamic banker of the year (a repeat awardee); and Dato Hj Syed Moheeb Syed Kamarulzaman as Takaful CEO of the year.
The Asset 5 Jun 2012
The Government of Malaysia (GOM) led the winners in The Asset Triple A Islamic Finance Awards 2012 as chosen by the board of editors at The Asset magazine. Three distinguished Islamic industry stalwarts are cited with leadership awards: Dato’ Dr Abdul Halim Ismail, currently deputy chairman of the Shariah Advisory Council of Bank Negara Malaysia; Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, CEO of CIMB Islamic Bank as Islamic banker of the year (a repeat awardee); and Dato Hj Syed Moheeb Syed Kamarulzaman as Takaful CEO of the year. The Asset is also honouring the late Dato’ Mohd Razif Abdul Kadir, former deputy governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, whose passion for the development of Islamic banking/finance industry was an inspiration to everyone.
 
GOM was voted as the Islamic issuer of the year and sukuk issuer of the year for its innovative USD2 billion dual tranche global sukuk offering in June 2011. The deal was the first sovereign sukuk to be structured under the wakala principle as well as using a combination of assets, such as shares and commodity murabaha arrangement. This should serve as a template to other sovereign and other issuers to be able to structure a sukuk that would allow flexibility in the asset pool given that this structure does not require 100 percent of asset content to be in the form of physical/tangible assets such as lands and buildings. The transaction garnered three awards as the Islamic deal of the year, best deal for Malaysia and best sovereign sukuk as it represented the largest global sovereign US dollar sukuk offering so far and the first with a 10-year tenor.
 
CIMB Islamic Bank was selected as the Islamic bank of the year, and best Islamic investment bank and sukuk house of the year for Asia as it continues to play an important role in Malaysia’s aspiration to becoming a global leader in Islamic finance. It remains at the forefront in the ringgit sukuk market and was involved in some of the landmark transactions, including the 30.6 billion ringgit (USD9.65 billion) sukuk for Projek Lebuhraya Usahasama, which represented the single largest sukuk issuance globally and voted as the best corporate sukuk. It helped arranged the first global offshore renminbi–denominated sukuk for Khazanah Nasional amounting to 500 million renminbi (USD79.36 million), which was named the most innovative deal and the best local currency sukuk. On the equity side, it was a joint global coordinator and bookrunner in the USD888 million initial public offering for Bumi Armada in July 2011, which was voted as the best Islamic equity.
 
HSBC Amanah was selected as sukuk house of the year and best Islamic investment bank for the Middle East as it structured, executed and distributed trailblazing transactions for sovereign, supranational, corporate and financial institutions. It was involved in the two sovereign sukuk issuances out of Asia in 2011 for the GOM and Republic of Indonesia amounting to USD1 billion in November, and in the landmark transactions for Bank Al Jazira, Kuveyt Katilim Bankasi and HSBC Bank Middle East, among others.
 
Standard Chartered Bank retained the accolade as the best project finance house and was voted as the best Islamic loan syndication house. The bank’s work on the Ma’aden Bauxite and Alumina Company financing broke new ground in the Middle East industrial space. Although it was the only integrated bauxite mine and alumina refinery in the Middle East and the first greenfield project financing of its nature globally, the deal was more than 4x oversubscribed allowing the sponsors to secure highly favourable pricing and a balanced financing structure.
 
As the best Islamic loan syndication house, it helped arrange notable deals in the Middle East, Turkey and Asia, including the 3.55 billion UAE dirham syndicated financing for Emaar Malls, USD202.5 million facility for Al Baraka Turk Katilim Bankasi and a 7.1 billion Pakistan rupee (USD82 million) deal for Pakistan Mobile Communications.
 
Other house winners include Etiqa Takaful as the best takaful institution, CIMB Principal Islamic Asset Management as the Islamic asset management house of the year, HSBC Amanah Securities Services as Islamic custodian of the year, Clifford Chance as best Islamic law firm, Standard & Poor’s as best rating agency for Islamic finance, Dow Jones Indexes as best Islamic index provider, and KFH Research as best Islamic research house. Other country asset management house winners are AmIslamic Funds Management in Malaysia and Al Meezan Investment management in Pakistan. Public Mutual was The Asset choice for the Islamic retail asset management house in Malaysia.
 
CIMB Islamic Bank also led the country winners as best Islamic bank for Malaysia, while Maybank Islamic won the best retail bank and best trade finance bank in the country. Bank Syariah Mandiri took the honours in Indonesia as well as the best retail bank and best trade finance bank. Parsian Bank retained the honours in Iran, as Meezan Bank did in Pakistan, which also won the best retail bank and best trade finance bank. Qatar Islamic Bank won in Qatar, while HSBC Saudi Arabia got the award in Saudi Arabia.
 
In terms of deals, the other significant winners include the USD1.2 billion financing facility for PT Axis Telekom Indonesia, which achieved several “firsts”, including the first Islamic trade in Indonesia and telecoms trade in Asia to be supported by political risk insurance provided by Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the political risk insurance arm of the World Bank.
 
Another landmark transaction led by Maybank Investment Bank as sole adviser was the resolution to Selangor’s water bond crisis, which avoided a potential systemic capital markets crisis. This involved the simultaneous acquisition by Pengurusan Aset Air of 5.8 billion ringgit worth of water bonds and issuance of 5.8 billion ringgit worth of government-guaranteed Islamic medium term notes in what was a well-executed transaction.
 
The best Islamic structured product award was given to wakala bi-al-Istithmar investment account structured by Al Rajhi Banking & Investment Corporation (Malaysia), an innovative product designed to facilitate the investment needs of all types of customers especially the retail segment.
 
For the full list of winners, please click here
 
 

  

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