From left: Alliance Islamic Bank CEO Rizal Il-Ehzan, Alliance Bank head of corporate bonds and sukuk Soo Wang Wei, group chief corporate banking and capital markets officer Teoh Chu Lin, Avaland CEO Apollo Bello Tanco, Avaland CFO Shirley Leong, Ayala Land head of strategic growth and new ventures Robert Lao, AmInvestment Bank CEO Tracy Chen Wee Keng, AmBank Group managing director of wholesale banking Jamzidi Khalid and AmInvestment Bank head of debt capital markets Yeoh Teik Leng.

KUALA LUMPUR (June 25): Property developer Avaland Bhd (KL:AVALAND) (formerly MCT Bhd) has lodged an RM1 billion Islamic Medium-Term Notes Programme with the Securities Commission Malaysia.

In a statement, Avaland said the sukuk programme, based on the shariah principle of Murabahah (via Tawarruq arrangement), will allow it to issue sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) sukuk, Asean sukuk, SRI-linked and Asean sustainability-linked sukuk to fund, among others, Avaland's developments, land acquisitions and capital expenditures.

It said the programme has been assigned a long-term credit rating of AA3 with a stable outlook by RAM Rating Services Bhd, on the back of the group's "earnings visibility backed by its unbilled sales of RM852 million as at March 31".

Alliance Islamic Bank Bhd and AmInvestment Bank Bhd are the joint principal advisers, joint lead arrangers and joint lead managers for the sukuk programme.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Alliance and AmInvestment Bank to establish our first sukuk programme. We believe that the proceeds to be raised under this programme will further fuel Avaland’s growth following the positive response to all of our new launches in 2024.

"This programme also marks a significant phase in our sustainability journey as the synergy between our sustainability performance and financing metrics is in line with our efforts towards becoming a leading sustainable property developer as part of our Sustainability Roadmap," said Avaland CEO Apollo Bello Tanco.