CAGAMAS ISSUES RM500 MILLION MULTI-TENURED BONDS, SUKUK

KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 (Bernama) -- Cagamas Bhd recently issued multi-tenured bonds and sukuk totalling RM500 million, raising its total issuance size year-to-date to RM1.5 billion.

In a statement today, the company announced the combined issuances of three-year RM50 million Islamic medium term notes, multi-tenured one-, two- and three-year conventional medium term notes with a combined amount of RM100 million, and three-month RM350 million conventional commercial papers (CCP).

Proceeds from the issuances would be used to fund the purchase of Islamic financing and housing loans from the financial system, the national mortgage corporation said.

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“Despite a similar amount of primary supply amounting to RM21 billion in the domestic corporate bonds and sukuk market for 2019 to-date as compared to 2018, secondary liquidity of corporate bonds and sukuk showed an aggregate increase of RM10.5 billion within the corresponding period.

“This indicates sustained demand for ringgit-denominated securities. The RM150 million combined Islamic and conventional medium term notes were priced at competitive spreads against the Malaysian Government Securities and were aggressively bid by local financial institutions,” said president and chief executive officer Datuk Chung Chee Leong.

He said with heightened uncertainty in the global interest rate environment, demand for short-term fixed income instruments continued to remain robust as evidenced by the strong foreign participation in the company’s CCP issuance.

 So far this year, the company has recorded a higher issuance size of CCP totalling RM950 million compared with RM500 million issued in the corresponding period of 2018.

Chung said the commercial papers were priced competitively at 3.69 per cent, which is on par with the onshore benchmark three-month KLIBOR rate.

The papers, which will be redeemed at their full nominal value upon maturity, are unsecured obligations of the company, ranking pari passu among themselves and with all other existing unsecured obligations of the company.

 They will be listed and tradable under the Scripless Securities Trading System.

-- BERNAMA