The Malaysia sovereign ended an eight-year absence from the international debt markets with the issue of a $1.25 billion sukuk, or Islamic bond, early Friday morning. The 144A/Reg-S registered securities were issued with a five-year bullet that has been set to mature on June 4, 2015.
With a 3.93% fixed-rate coupon and an issue and reoffer price at par, this is only the second bond to be issued by an emerging market country in the past five years to yield below 4% -- and the first ever by an Asian emerging market sovereign. The last country to issue at sub-4% was Russia, which sold a $5.5 billion dual-tranche bond in April that paid a yield of 3.741% on the $3.5 billion five-year tranche.
¬ Haymarket Media Limited. All rights reserved.
