Singapore-listed offshore oilfield service firm Swiber Holdings has priced a rare Singapore dollar sukuk as part of its US$500 million multicurrency Islamic trust certificates issuance programme.

The S$150 million sukuk, the inaugural issuance under the programme, was issued following the principle of wakalah bi al-istithmar - a Shariah concept based on agency or delegation. The five-year sukuk offers a profit rate of 6.5% payable semi-annually.

The unrated sukuk was mainly placed with institutional Investors with 96.5%, followed by private banks which took 2.8% of the transaction and fund managers with 0.7%.

Swiber plans to use the proceeds to refinance its existing borrowings, with the remainder allocated to fund working capital and for general corporate purposes that are Shariah compliant.

Maybank Kim Eng Securities and DBS Bank were the joint bookrunners as well as joint lead managers with Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam.

Maybank Kim Eng was also the sole lead arranger, bookrunner and global coordinator for the programme, while Maybank Islamic is the Shariah advisor.