Capital Markets - Debt

Our team is consistently ranked in the top tier in international publications in the area of capital markets. We are a leading practice in this field and have advised on the whole range of debt capital market instruments from plain vanilla bonds and
sukuk to equity linked and quasi equity securities, asset backed securities, bank capital instruments, structured products, sustainable and responsible investment (SRI), debt instruments and project finance involving green bonds and sukuk as well as sovereign sukuk. We have been involved in many award-winning, complex and novel transactions where we work with international and local banks, corporates and other advisers from developing and structuring a transaction to financial close, and thereafter liability management, tender offers, exchange offers, consent solicitations and restructuring.

Led by partners who are recognised as leading lawyers in a number of regional as well as international publications for many consecutive years, our team’s depth and breadth of experience and familiarity with the requirements of regulators and trends in the industry have earned us a reputation as the go to firm in this area.

• We acted for HSBC amanah malaysia berhad for an asset-cacked islamic medium term notes programme of RM1.0 billion in nominal value based on the shariah principle of wakalah bi al-istithmar established by pinnacle yields sdn. Bhd., A special purpose vehicle established for the securitisation of shariah-compliant hire purchase receivables, with parkson credit sdn bhd as the originator. This deal won the islamic finance awards 2025 under the category “most innovative islamic deal 2025”.
• We acted for kenanga investment bank berhad in respect of an asset-backed medium term notes programme of up to rm150.0 million in nominal value established by KLG capital berhad, a special purpose vehicle established for the securitisation of KL gateway mall, with suez domain sdn bhd as the originator.
• We acted for cimb investment bank berhad and hong leong investment bank berhad in respect of the sukuk programme of rm 3.0 billion established by TG excellence berhad and guaranteed by top glove corporation bhd, for the issuance of senior sukuk wakalah and perpetual sukuk wakalah.
• We acted for cimb investment bank berhad and maybank investment bank berhad in respect of the icp programme and imtn programme with a combined limit of rm 3 billion established by johor plantations group berhad. The IMTN programme provides flexibility for the issuance of vanilla sukuk wakalah, sustainability sukuk wakalah, sustainabilty-linked sukuk wakalah as well as secured sukuk wakalah.
• We acted as malaysian counsel for credit guarantee and investment facility, a trust fund of asian development bank (“cgif”) as guarantor in respect of a senior unsecured guaranteed green bonds of sgd50 million issued by apeiron agrocommodities pte ltd (“apeiron”), whereby the guarantee from cgif was secured by a floating charge created by apeiron over its malaysian assets and indemnified by malaysian co-obligor.
• We acted for cimb investment bank berhad in respect of the tier 2 sukuk wakalah programme of rm 300 million established by prudential bsn takaful berhad.
• We acted for sime darby enterprise sdn bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of sime darby holdings berhad, in the establishment of an unrated islamic commercial paper and islamic medium term notes programme of up to rm10.0 billion in nominal value based on the shariah principle of murabahah (via tawarruq arrangement), irrevocably and unconditionally guaranteed by sime darby berhad. The proceeds were used for the acquisition of UMW holdings berthad.
• We acted for projek lebuhraya usahasama berhad (plus) in respect of the establishment of its rm 25.2 billion sukuk programme undertaken as part of the toll restructuring exercise. This is the world’s largest single rated sukuk issued by a corporate as well as the largest consent solicitation exercise in the ringgit sukuk market to date involving the holders of RM17.2 billion of PLUS’ existing sukuk musharakah and RM 11 billion of PLUS’ existing government guaranteed sukuk. This deal was awarded (i) ‘best liability management’ by the asset triple A islamic finance awards 2023 and (ii) debt market deal of the year in the ALB malaysia law awards 2023.
• We acted for cimb investment bank berhad as the lead arranger in the upsizing of the islamic medium term notes programme from rm10.0 billion to RM20.0 billion in nominal value by danum capital berhad, where the obligor is khazanah nasional berhad. This deal was awarded ‘best quasi-sovereign sukuk’ by the asset triple A islamic finance awards 2023.‍
• We acted for CIMB investment bank berhad and HSBC amanah malaysia berhad in the establishment of an islamic medium term notes programme of up to RM1.0 billion in nominal value based on the shariah principle of wakalah bi al-istithmar by MY E.G. Services berhad. This deal was awarded “best social sukuk – best in sustainable finance” and “best social sukuk – best deals by country” in the asset triple A islamic finance awards 2023.‍
• We acted for the joint lead managers in the government of malaysia’s us$800mil 10-year and us$500mil 30-year sustainability sukuk, issued via a special purpose vehicle, malaysia wakala sukuk berhad. Malaysia’s maiden sustainability sukuk is the world’s first U.S. Dollar sustainability sukuk issued by a sovereign, whereby proceeds will be used for eligible social and green projects aligned to the united nation’s sustainable development goals (SDG) agenda.
• We acted for the lead arrangers in the issuance of usd320.8 million of cash-settled exchangeable sukuk issued by cindai capital ltd referencing h-shares of CITIC securities co., Ltd, with recourse to khazanah nasional berhad.
• We acted for the lead arranger in the issuance of rm100 million sukuk under the islamic principle of wakalah bi al-istithmar under the “sustainable and responsible investment sukuk” framework by ihsan sukuk berhad, with recourse to khazanah nasional berhad. The issuance comprise a portion of retail sukuk, being the only retail ringgit sukuk in the malaysian market which is not government-guaranteed.
• We acted as malaysian counsel for malayan banking berhad in its inaugural issuance of renminbi bond of up to 1 billion in the people’s republic of china,  through bond connect, a scheme which links the people republic of china’s multi-trillion bond market with overseas investors.
• We acted for quantum solar park (semenanjung) sdn bhd in relation to the issuance of islamic medium term notes based on the shariah principle of murabahah (via tawarruq arrangement) of up to ringgit malaysia one billion in nominal value to finance three (3) 50mw solar plant in kedah, terengganu and melaka. The issuance is the world’s largest green SRI and is the second time such a facility is offered under the securities commission malaysia’s SRI sukuk framework.  This deal won alpha SEA best deal & solutions awards 2017 for the best sustainable finance deal and most innovative islamic finance deal.
• We acted for southern power generation sdn bhd in the issuance of sukuk based on the shariah principle of wakalah bi al-istithmar of up to ringgit malaysia four billion in nominal value to finance 2x720mw combined-cycle gas fired power plant in pasir gudang. This deal won alpha SEA best deal & solutions awards 2017 for the best wakalah and best islamic finance deal. ‍
• We acted for the lead arranger in the establishment of malayan banking berhad’s sukuk programme of rm30 billion (upsized from rm10 billion) in nominal value, for the issuance of senior sukuk, subordinated sukuk which qualifies as tier 2 instrument in compliance with the capital adequacy framework (capital components) issued by bank negara malaysia (“caf”), and additional tier 1 sukuk in compliance with the caf.
• We acted for joint lead arrangers and managers in the government of malaysia’s US$1.5 billion global offering of trust certificates, structured under the shariah principle of wakala. The underlying assets for the offering comprise 100% non-physical assets, namely, vouchers representing entitlement to a specified number of travel units and shariah compliant shares. This unique combination of underlying assets represents a major breakthrough in sovereign sukuk, being the first time a sovereign has accessed the global sukuk market without utilizing physical assets (such as land and buildings) or commodity murabaha.