KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 4): OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Bhd with its Islamic subsidiary OCBC Al-Amin Bank Bhd (OCBC Malaysia) have won the Best Maiden Sukuk Award in the Alpha Southeast Asia 16th Annual Best Deal and Solution Awards 2022 for their roles as principal adviser and sustainability structuring adviser for edotco Group’s RM3 billion Sukuk Wakalah programme.

edotco — a subsidiary of Axiata group — made its first foray into the ringgit debt capital market with its sukuk programme which includes the issuance of sustainability sukuk to facilitate the group’s decarbonisation process.

This latest award follows four other major "best deal" awards won at the prestigious The Asset Triple A Islamic Finance Awards 2022, which recognises the best Islamic deals that defined the industry in the Asia Pacific region.

These included Best Sukuk for Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s US$1 billion dual-tranche sukuk, the first time in five years the sovereign wealth fund took part in the US dollar sukuk market.

In a statement on Wednesday (Jan 4), OCBC Malaysia managing director, senior banker and head of investment banking Tan Ai Chin has stated the bank is honoured to be recognised for its holistic financial solutions encompassing loan syndication, bond market and M&A advisory.

“We have demonstrated our strong capabilities to lead advice and arrange local and foreign currency sukuk and loan syndications for our key clients,” said Tan.

“We are grateful to our valued clients for their confidence in our structuring and execution capabilities and thank them for their continued support.

“Given our aspiration to be Asia’s leading bank for responsible and sustainable finance, OCBC Malaysia will continue to help facilitate the nation’s transition journey by advising and offering innovative financing products to our valued clients, through partnership with regulators like Bursa Malaysia and Securities Commission,” she added.