Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises on largest dim sum sukuk

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised Bank of America Merrill Lynch, CIMB and HSBC as joint lead managers on Axiata Group Berhad's RMB1 billion sukuk issuance, the largest RMB-denominated sukuk and the second to date to be issued in the dim sum bond market. The sukuk are listed on Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad (under the Exempt Regime) and the Singapore Stock Exchange.

The issuance is the inaugural issuance from Axiata's USD1.5 billion multi-currency Sukuk Issuance Programme established in August this year, on which Clifford Chance also advised.

The Sukuk Issuance Programme has an innovative structure which is based on the Shari'a principle of Wakala and provides the flexibility of using airtime vouchers, Shari'a compliant shares, lease assets as well as murabaha receivables arising from the sale of commodities as the underlying assets. However, the inaugural RMB issuance utilises only airtime vouchers as the underlying asset.

"We are pleased to have worked on this issuance, setting a new precedent in using a Wakala structure in a currency of choice, which provides more flexibility for issuers in aligning its financing with its business needs," said Qudeer Latif, one of the lead partners based in Dubai and Global Head of Islamic Finance.

The team was jointly led by Dubai partner Qudeer Latif and Hong Kong partner Matt Fairclough and included senior associates Gregory Man and Sandeep Puri, associate Siu Fang Ng and trainee Julia Maude.