Bursa Malaysia today received its second foreign listing of USD100 million (RM332 million) sukuk in an issuance by Nomura Holdings, Inc., as announced during the signing of the Sub!--ion Agreement between Nomura and Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) Berhad recently.

Kuwait Finance House is the Mandated Lead Arranger for this listing exercise.

This milestone also marked the first sukuk listing by an Asian and a Japanese international entity. The sukuk is structured based on the globally accepted Shari'ah principle of Ijarah (leasing).

Dato' Yusli Mohamed Yusoff, Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia said, "Malaysia remains the world's single most active corporate sukuk market at present. We certainly have made great strides in the sukuk market and the listing of Nomura's sukuk is further demonstration of foreign players' confidence towards Islamic securities and instruments issued out of Malaysia."

Mr Takumi Shibata, Deputy president and Chief Operating Officer of Nomura Holdings, said, "With this landmark transaction, Nomura has further diversified its funding sources and tapped the large and growing Islamic finance market for the first time. This issuance is part of Nomura's ongoing push to diversify its funding sources to drive growth. Islamic investors and Islamic finance are a very important and rapidly growing sector globally and this transaction is highly significant for Nomura and for corporate Japan."

The sukuk listing from Nomura will further strengthen Bursa Malaysia as a preferred sukuk listing destination, elevating the overall position of Malaysia as an international Islamic financial hub.

With this listing, Bursa Malaysia's sukuk listings recorded a total of USD 20.9 billion worth of sukuk programmes with 15 sukuk listed by 13 issuers, from which two of them are international issuers.