Labuan IBFC is proud to be home to Nomura’s maiden Sukuk issuance, made possible via its special purpose legal entity formed and registered in Labuan IBFC, named Nomura Sukuk Ltd.

This Labuan company was established solely for the proposed issuance of the said sukuk, and is owned by a charitable trust, named NBB Ijarah Ltd. NBB Ijarah Ltd, also a Labuan entity, ultimately owned by Nomura Holdings Inc.

This issuance marks the first United States dollar-denominated sukuk for a Japanese multinational corporation issued out of Malaysia.

Nomura Holdings, Inc. today announced that it has appointed Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) Berhad (KFHMB) as the Mandated Lead Arranger (MLA) for the proposed issuance of a two-year Sukuk al-Ijarah of USD100 million. This issuance marks the first United States dollar-denominated sukuk for a Japanese multinational corporation issued out of Malaysia under the Framework of Issuance of Foreign Currency-Denominated Bonds and Sukuk in Malaysia.

The Subscription Agreement was signed by Mr Takumi Shibata, Deputy President and Chief Operating Officer of Nomura Holdings, Mr Akira Komichi, Director, NBB Ijarah, Encik Azizan Mohd Som, Director, Nomura Sukuk and Chief Executive Officer of KFHMB, Puan Jamelah Jamaluddin, and witnessed by Datuk Ranjit Ajit Singh, Managing Director, Securities Commission Malaysia and Dato' Yusli Mohamed Yusoff, Chief Executive Officer, Bursa Malaysia.

"With this landmark transaction, Nomura has further diversified its funding sources and tapped the large and growing Islamic finance market for the first time," said Takumi Shibata. "This issuance is part of Nomura's ongoing push to diversify its funding sources to drive growth. Islamic investors and Islamic finance are a very important and rapidly growing sector globally and this transaction is highly significant for Nomura and for corporate Japan. Nomura has now opened the way for other Japanese corporations to tap the Islamic finance market, and we believe that the transaction will lead to significant benefits for Nomura and for our clients and partners."

Explaining the milestone initiative, Puan Jamelah said, "Our cooperation with one of Japan's leading financial services groups demonstrates Nomura's trust in KFHMB, and in the strength of Islamic finance products. As one of the leaders in the sukuk and capital markets, the Kuwait Finance House Group (KFH) has been involved in sukuk issuance for companies from a wide range of industries worldwide. All our sukuk are structured under globally Shariah-compliant principles. KFH has been in operation for over 30 years and our partners can benefit from our wide pool of resources and significant network. For this Sukuk al-Ijarah, we are targeting investors from Asia Pacific, the Middle East and London. At the same time, Nomura has worldwide operations in more than 30 countries, and we hope to also reach out to its customer base." Puan Jamelah attributed the success to various worldwide investor road shows organized by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) under the Malaysia International Islamic Finance Center (MIFC) over the last few years. "We support the Government's call to position the country as an international hub for Islamic finance which would in the long run contribute to the economic growth agenda and social well-being of the people," she concluded.

The original press statement can be downloaded here.