Danajamin guarantees RM170m of AC First Genesis’ Islamic ABS

(Caption) Nazri Omar, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Danajamin, Grace Ho, Director of Belleview Group and Dato' Sonny Ho, Managing Director (MD) of Belleview Group were joined by Lee Jim Leng, Group MD and CEO of Hong Leong Investment Bank Berhad, Wan Ahmad Satria, Head, SMF & Proprietary Investment of MIDF, Sharon Yam, Director, AC First Genesis, Datin Suryani Rusli, Director of Belleview Group and Ooi Lay Wah, General Manager, Finance, Belleview Group at the first virtual signing ceremony held by Danajamin, via ZOOM.

KUALA LUMPUR: Danajamin Nasional Bhd has guaranteed the C Islamic medium-term notes of up to RM170mil by AC First Genesis Bhd (AFGB) which will be used to acquire the Aman Central Mall in Kedah from Great Realty Sdn Bhd.

Danajamin, the country’s first financial guarantee insurer, said the RM170mil was under a first issuance of the Sukuk Ijarah of up to RM800mil.

The first tranche was pursuant to a 20-year asset-backed Islamic medium term notes programme of up to RM3bil (Sukuk Ijarah programme) by AFGB.

“Proceeds from AFGB’s issuance will be used for the acquisition of Aman Central Mall from Great Realty. The purchase will be funded by the issuance of the first tranche where the Sukuk holders shall acquire beneficial ownership of the mall, ” it said. The signing ceremony was on May 27.

Danajamin CEO Mohamed Nazri Omar said the Covid-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions to the nation’s economy and left a lasting impact to the Malaysia retail industry.

“Despite the challenging market, we believe that Aman Central mall will continue to be a catalyst to the Northern economy and Danajamin will put its trust again in what has turned out to be one of the more remarkable commercial development in Alor Setar, ” he said.

Nazri said Danajamin’s relationship with Aman Central has been a long one. It had supported the issuance back in 2014 when Belleview Sdn Bhd through its SPV Great Realty Sdn Bhd redeveloped an abandoned commercial property on prime land in the heart of Alor Setar.

Aman Central is now the largest and most prestigious shopping mall in Kedah. Today, as a result of their successful track record over the last seven years.

He added together with its financial guarantee, was confident the Belleview Group can mitigate the impact of Covid 19 on its business and revitalise the retail industry in Alor Setar.

Great Realty managing director Datuk Sonny Ho said with the support of Danajamin’s first issuance of MTN programme in 2014 in addition to this new ABS Sukuk Ijarah programme, “we are able to transform and revitalise Aman Central from a 30 year old abandoned project into the most successful and largest lifestyle shopping mall in Kedah.

“It has certainly been a very fruitful experience working with Danajamin together with Hong Leong Investment Bank and MIDF Investment Bank on this journey, ” he said.

Following the issuance, Great Realty will free up its capital and simultaneously manage the asset as a servicer to AFGB.

Additionally, the Sukuk Ijarah programme will support AFGB for future injection/sales of assets if required.

The joint principal advisors, joint lead arrangers of the Sukuk Ijarah programme are Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd and MIDF Investment Bank Bhd.

Situated on three hectares)of real estate, Aman Central Mall is the largest mall in the state of Kedah. It has a total built-up area of 2,000,000 square feet and a net lettable area of almost 800,000 square feet (793,905 sq ft.) spread over six levels.

The eight-storey retail mall has two basement levels and a multilevel carpark with 1,626 parking bays with approximately 330 retail lots.

To date, Danajamin’s financial guarantees have assisted 42 issuances, with a total guarantee size of RM10.7bil.

Through risk-sharing collaboration with partner banks, the total market impact of these deals stands at RM22.7bil.