The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on May 14 announced the awarding of a mandate to four banks to arrange a series of fixed income investor meetings in Asia, the Middle East and Europe commencing on May 18 in connection with a potential US dollar sukuk offering.
HSBC and Standard Chartered are appointed joint global coordinators as well as joint bookrunners and lead managers, along with CIMB and National Bank of Abu Dhabi. This is the same group of banks that arranged Hong Kong’s inaugural sukuk amounting to US$1 billion in September 2014. The five-year offering, the first US dollar-denominated sukuk issued by a non-Islamic government, was issued under the Shariah principle of ijara.
The new sukuk will be issued through a special purpose vehicle, Hong Kong Sukuk 2015, which will enter into a wakala agreement with the Hong Kong government. Under this arrangement, the issuer will enter into a leasing agreement for at least 34% of the issued amount and a murabaha (sale financing) agreement for the remainder of the issued amount.
HKMA is acting as the representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the potential sukuk transaction.
