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SYDNEY/KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 (Reuters) - Australia's top
investment bank Macquarie (MQG.AX) met bond investors in
Malaysia last week, two sources familiar with the meetings said
on Monday, with one saying it may consider a potential bond
sale there and perhaps even an Islamic issue.
Both sources declined to be named because they are not
authorised to speak to the press.
HSBC and RHB, a unit of RHB Capital (RHBC.KL), Malaysia's
fourth-largest lender, arranged the presentations, the sources
said.
The visit is Macquarie's first to Malaysia and is part of a
world update that also took the investment bank to the United
States and Great Britain.
The Malaysian presentations were described as a
reconnaissance trip for Macquarie, which is keen on taking
advantage of a bouyant local capital market while diversifying
the bank's investor base, one of the sources said.
Talk of a bond offer, including a sukuk, in Malaysia is
premature, one of the sources said, but added that the bank may
consider it at a later date, without giving more details.
Sukuk or Islamic bonds do not pay interest, which is banned
as usury under Islamic law. They are structured as
profit-sharing or rental agreements that are underpinned by
physical assets.
Malaysia has the world's largest Islamic bond market and a
string of small issuances has kept the market afloat as the
global economic recession slowed investor appetite worldwide.
Macquarie declined to comment. The bank said in May it had
raised A$21.5 billion ($17 billion) in term funding since March
2008. It is rated A by S&P.
Another source familiar with the matter, who declined to be
named because they were not authorised to speak to the press,
said an unnamed Australian bank was considering issuing $100
million worth of Malaysian ringgit-denominated Islamic bonds in
the Southeast Asian country.
Sukuk sales worldwide plunged to $15.77 billion last year
from a record $46.65 billion in 2007, according to Islamic
Finance Information Service.
But strong demand for two recent sovereign issuances has
ignited hope of a recovery in the market. Bahrain issued a $750
million sovereign sukuk in June, the first in the Gulf Arab
region this year, attracting an order book of about $4 billion.
Indonesia sold $650 million in its maiden global Islamic
bond in April, which was oversubscribed seven times.
($1=1.284 Australian Dollar)
(Click on [ID:nISLAMIC] for more Islamic finance stories and
ISLAMIC for a speed guide)
(Reporting by Cecile Lefort and Liau Y-Sing; Editing by James
Thornhill)
