PETALING JAYA: The country’s largest mobile phone operator, Maxis Bhd, is planning to raise as much as RM5bil from a 30-year sukuk for its capital expenditure (capex) and debt refinancing.
The company said in a stock exchange filing that the unrated sukuk murabahah programme would be available 30 years from the date of the first issuance, which should be made within two years of approval. The issue price of the Islamic bond will also be fixed prior to each issuance.
It added that the Islamic medium-term notes might be with or without periodic profit payments. The coupon rate and yield to maturity would also be fixed prior to each issuance of the sukuk.
Maxis, which has a market capitalisation of RM48.8bil, said the notes would be used to finance its capex, working capital and general corporate purposes.
It would also be used to refinance its debt and other maturing unrated sukuk.
For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2014 (FY14), the company had allocated RM1.1bil for its capex. The money would be used to complete its network modernisation, drive 4G long-term evolution expansion and further improve its capacity and quality.
The company has short-term borrowings of RM931mil and long-term debts of RM8.13bil.
It signed an RM2.5bil sukuk in FY14 that has a 10-year tenure from its first utilisation.
The telco had drawn down RM2.15bil of the facility amount, of which RM500mil and RM420.75mil were used to repay an RM500mil revolving credit facility and the initial instalment of the US$750mil syndicated term loan.
Guarantors of the proposed Islamic notes would be Maxis Broadband Sdn Bhd and Maxis Mobile Services Sdn Bhd. An unconditional and irrevocable corporate guarantee would be given to assure the payment of the deferred sale price due in the programme.
“The corporate guarantees shall be issued by the guarantors respectively on a one-off basis,” it added.
CIMB Investment Bank Bhd is the sole principal adviser and the sole lead arranger for the programme.
The lender is also the sole lead manager for the first sukuk issuance.
Meanwhile, CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd is the syariah adviser for this deal.
Maxis’ transformation programme has shown results, as its first quarter ended March 31 saw its subscriber base growing amid intense competition in the sector.
Its service revenue for the period climbed 4.4% to RM2.13bil, mainly driven by the prepaid revenue that increased 8.6% to RM1.05bil, marking a turnaround for the prepaid segment.
It has nine million mobile Internet users and its blended smart-phone penetration rate stood at 57% this quarter.
The prepaid segment saw four consecutive quarters of growth in revenue and subscribers.
Revenue generating subscriptions increased by 328,000 to 12 million during the quarter. Compared with the previous quarter ended Dec 31, 2014, revenue was up by 1% from RM2.12bil, while net profit jumped 20.9% from RM339mil.
(The Star Online / 18 June 2015)
---Alfalah Consulting - Kuala Lumpur: www.alfalahconsulting.com
Islamic Investment Malaysia: www.islamic-invest-malaysia.com
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