KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Corporate sukuk issuance in Malaysia, the world's top sharia bond market, is expected to rise by up to $15 billion this year as the economy improves, an Islamic bank said on Wednesday.
Infrastructure companies and refinancing needs are likely to account for the bulk of sukuk issuance in 2010, with the market projected to see issuance rise by 40-50 billion ringgit ($11.8-$14.8 billion) from last year, Bank Islam said.
"For Malaysia, the liquidity is there, and readings say we may have modest growth of GDP and the economy will be better," Bank Islam's corporate investment banking head Mashitah Osman said in an interview.
"You can see companies that have been waiting, they have been doing syndication, maybe it's the right time to come back."
She did not give a figure for Malaysian sukuk issuance in 2009.
Malaysian Rating Corp has estimated that corporate bond issuance in the Southeast Asian country totalled over 30 billion ringgit in the first three quarters of 2009, of which about 14 billion ringgit were sukuk.
The $107 billion global sukuk market had been tipped to recover late last year from the global economic slowdown when Dubai's debt problems erupted, casting a shadow over the Islamic finance industry.
Some bankers expect the debt restructuring in Dubai will weigh heavily on sukuk issuance in the emirate, although other regions are less likely to be hit.
Sukuk issuance worldwide may surpass $20 billion in 2010, helped by government spending and financing needs for new energy projects, an earlier Reuters poll had showed.
Bank Islam is Malaysia's No 2 sharia bank and 51 percent owned by Islamic banking group BIMB Holdings Bhd .
Investors in Malaysia continue to gravitate towards top credits, Mashitah said.
"Look at how quiet the sukuk market is unless you are AAA-rated...then you can see investors queuing up and knocking at your door," she said.
She said Bank Islam was pitching for 500 million ringgit of project financing deals done by a Malaysian state-linked infrastructure company. ($1=3.385 Malaysian Ringgit) |
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