Mazoon Electricity issues debut Sukuk certificates

Muscat - Mazoon Electricity Company on November 1 successfully priced its debut Reg S/144A US$500mn ten-year Sukuk offering.

The Sharia’a-compliant Ijara structure was adopted for issue of the Sukuk certificates and the profit rate was set 5.2 per cent, according to a press release issued by Nama Group.

The issuance is rated Baa2 (negative) by Moody’s Investor Service and BBB (negative) by Fitch Ratings.

The certificates are listed on the Irish Stock Exchange. The issuance was managed by Mazoon Electricity Company and Nama Holding along with JP Morgan Securities plc, Bank Muscat, KFH Capital Investment and First Abu Dhabi Bank acting as joint lead managers and Noor Bank and Warba Bank acting as co-managers.

Commenting on this milestone, H E Hassan bin Mohammed al Lawati, chairman of Nama Group, said, “Since 2014, the group’s financing programme – Lamar project has so far achieved financing RO1.4bn up to date. The fundraising programme will support the group’s electricity transmission and distribution networks investments.”

This landmark transaction marks the first international corporate Sukuk issue out of Oman, and the first Reg S/144A corporate Sukuk out of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region since May 2016. Robust investor demand translated into a final order-book of approximately US$5bn from 300 orders, representing more than ten times oversubscription.

The final orderbook distribution by geography comprised of 47 per cent from the MENA region, 17 per cent Asian investors, 23 per cent European investors and 13 per cent US investors.

A comprehensive global roadshow was conducted in Asia, UAE, London, Boston and New York. With this marketing effort, Mazoon Electricity was able to build strong momentum and price the ten-year Sukuk offering via an intra-day execution process.

“We attribute the success of the Sukuk certificate issue primarily to the prevailing transparent, robust and successful regulatory mechanism, support of the government and consistent growth of the company,” said the chief executive officer Eng Zahir Abdulla al Abri.

The group chief financial officer of the Nama Group, Hussain Abdullatif al Balushi, said, “It was a remarkable success of Mazoon Electricity’s debut Sukuk issuance. Robust demand from international and Islamic investors prompted Mazoon Electricity to tighten pricing from price guidance to reach the profit rate of 5.2 per cent.”