The year is already proving to be an excellent one for Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) having won two awards from Islamic Finance News (IFN), a Kuala Lumpur-based publisher specialising in Islamic finance. The awards, both IFN Deals of the Year, acknowledged HLIB’s ability to deliver and complete structured Islamic financing.
The awards, Perpetual Deal of the Year for its RM609 million Sukuk Musharakah and Musharakah Deal of the Year for its RM700 million Sukuk Musharakah with SP Setia Berhad (SP Setia), showcased HLIB’s ability to complete a perpetual issuance for a real-estate organisation which is considered to be challenging in procuring long-term financing.
The Musharakah Deal of the Year acknowledged the programme drawn up for SP Setia which addressed key issues facing real-estate companies. The issuance allowed SP Setia to tap a large pool of funds without increasing its debt to equity ratio and therefore, preserve financing
capacity in the broader market.
In accepting the awards, Lee Jim Leng, Managing Director and CEO of Hong Leong Investment Bank said, “We are honoured to receive these awards from Islamic Finance News as the win reflects our capabilities to structure complex Islamic financing transactions. It is indeed a great way to start our year and certainly motivates us to participate in more Islamic financing deals. These awards are an affirmation of our strong commitment in continuously transforming and improving our position in the Islamic finance industry”.
Although The Perpetual Deal of the Year category received numerous submissions from various industries, the property industry was deemed the most challenging business segment in which to attract funding.
“The awards are a testament to the extensive efforts we take to work with our clients to equip them with the knowledge and information to help them make informed decisions. Moving forward, we remain dedicated to delivering world-class Islamic financing solutions to our clients,” Jim Leng added.
Andrew Morgan, Managing Director & Publisher of IFN said, “The award ing of not one, but two IFN Deals of The Year awards to Hong Leong Investment Bank focuses the industry spotlight on them and their ability to conceptualise and structure robust and meaningful syariah-compliant deals, particularly for clients in the international property sector involving multiple asset classes
and geographical jurisdictions.”
The IFN Deals of the Year was established in 2006 and recognises those who participated in the industry’s most ground-breaking transactions each year. Financial institutions, intermediaries and service providers are invited to submit their chosen transactions from the previous 12 months, which fall under one of the carefully selected sectors. A panel of experts from non-competing organisations then go through all submissions during the elimination process until just one transaction in each category remains and is thus awarded the winner of that category.
