Far and Middle Eastern ties have been strengthened by Japanese investment bank Nomura winning an oversubscribed US$70mn syndicated shariah-compliant commodity murabaha facility.
This is the first time that a Japanese firm has tapped the Islamic market using a murabaha structure.
The facility had ABC Islamic Bank as its mandated lead arranger, with Islamic Development Bank, Samba Financial Group, SMBC Europe and Ahli United Bank acting as participants.
The facility, which was oversubscribed from an initial request of US$50mn, has a three-year tenor and is priced at 175 basis points over Libor.
The facility will be used for general liquidity management purposes.
Takuya Furuva, Nomura’s chairman for Middle East and Africa, comments: “We are delighted that the success of this transaction exceeded our initial expectations; it reflects the strength of the Nomura brand and its reputation in the region. The issuance is part of Nomura’s strategy to diversify funding both geographically and by product.”
The deal comes at a time when the Japanese bank has issued a US$100mn sukuk in Malaysia.
Naveed Khan, managing director of ABC Islamic Bank, says: “This is a significant and landmark transaction for us. We are delighted that Nomura has chosen ABC Islamic Bank to be the sole mandated lead arranger for this successful facility.”
“We believe strongly that this will act as a trailblazer for other Japanese issuers looking towards the fast-growing market of Islamic banking for diversified funding sources in the future,” Khan adds.
Last Updated July 16, 2010
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