Allen & Overy has advised the joint lead managers and the delegate on the inaugural USD1 billion Sukuk offering by the Republic of the Philippines (ROP). The Sukuk has an aggregate principal amount of USD1 billion with a 5.5-year tenor, was offered pursuant to Rule 144A / Regulation S and is listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited and Nasdaq Dubai.
Partner Aloysius Tan commented: “It was truly an honour and privilege to work with the joint lead managers and the Republic of the Philippines, one of our key ASEAN clients, on this market-first transaction. This sets a milestone in the Islamic finance industry for Asia Pacific and demonstrates the growing trend among issuers in the international capital markets to issue Shariah-compliant instruments to enable them to benefit from the growing pool of liquidity in the Middle East.”
Giancarlo B. Sambalido, co-head of our Philippines-focus group, added: “We have supported the ROP on past international capital markets transactions and are particularly pleased that they continue to recognise our wide product expertise to help them achieve this milestone. This new product gives the ROP added flexibility in supporting the economy and helping it achieve upper middle-income status in the next three years.”
A&O has previously advised the ROP on offerings from its U.S. SEC shelf programme, including its first zero-coupon bond offering, its first euro bond offering in more than a decade and a bond offering to supports its pandemic-mitigation efforts.
The team advising the joint lead managers was led by Aloysius Tan (Partner) and Husayn Reza (Counsel), and assisted by Jia Yan Low (Senior Associate), Nick Yap (Associate) and Callum Udy (Trainee). Felipe Duque (Partner), Giancarlo B. Sambalido (Registered Foreign Lawyer, NY) and Sean Cao (Associate) provided advice on U.S. law aspects of the transaction.
The team advising the delegate included Tim Beech (Partner), Raj Sankaran (Senior Associate) and Kathleen Tay (Associate).
