PETALING JAYA: PLUS Bhd (PLUS), the vehicle set up by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and UEM Group Bhd to privatise toll operator PLUS Expressways Bhd, will soon announce a record-breaking RM30.6bil sukuk issuance, banking sources said.
The corporate sukuk is set to be Malaysia’s largest-ever bond offering and could count as the world’s largest sukuk issuance from a single company.
Previously, it had issued RM23.4bil in Islamic bonds, also a record number, that attracted life insurers with higher-than-average yields and maturities of as much as 25 years.
Back in 2010, EPF and UEM had made the offer to buy the assets and liabilities of PLUS Expressways, which was the operator of the North-South Expressway, at a price of RM23bil, or RM4.60 per share.
The offerors had stated that they would raise bonds to pay for the acquisition.
The deal received shareholders’ nod in February last year, some four months after it was announced. PLUS Expressways was delisted as of Dec 23, 2011.
An industry observer told StarBizWeek that he believed the demand for PLUS’ latest bond offering could outstrip supply as it came with a government guarantee, since both its owners are government-linked.
On whether EPF might take up any of the debt papers, he said it was possible as companies were allowed to purchase bonds issued by entities in which they had an equity stake.
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