Kencana Said to Hire AmInvestment Bank for Islamic Bond Sale
By Katrina NicholasApril 28 (Bloomberg) -- Kencana Petroleum Bhd., the Malaysian oil and gas services company, hired AmInvestment Bank Bhd. to help it sell as much as 250 million ringgit ($78 million) of Islamic bonds, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The bonds, known as sukuk, may be marketed to investors next month with maturities of three, five and seven years, the person said, asking not to be named as the details are private.
The sukuk will be the first Islamic notes guaranteed by Malaysia’s state bond guarantee agency, Danajamin Nasional Bhd. Danajamin said on March 23 that it agreed to an “inaugural guarantee” of Kencana’s Shariah-compliant debt.
Sales of sukuk rose to $20.2 billion last year from $14.1 billion in 2008 as investor confidence began to recover from the global credit freeze, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Sales topped $31 billion in 2007 as oil earnings boosted Arab wealth, and they may near that total this year, KFH Research Ltd. said on April 12.
Danajamin’s guarantee will give Kuala Lumpur-based Kencana’s bonds the highest AAA rating, enabling it “to raise funds from the sukuk market at a competitive rate,” Danajamin said last month.
Malaysian companies typically receive A or AA grades from domestic ratings companies, which discourages smaller businesses from selling bonds due to high costs, Danajamin Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Zulqarnain Onn said on April 7.
Proceeds from Kencana’s sale will be used to buy at least three offshore support vessels for charter to the oil and gas industry, according to Danajamin. No-one at Kencana’s investor relations department was immediately able to comment when Bloomberg called the company’s main office today.
--Editors: Will McSheehy
To contact the reporter on this story: Katrina Nicholas in Singapore at knicholas2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will McSheehy at wmcsheehy@bloomberg.net
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