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Corporate bonds
rated by RAM Rating Services Bhd surged to RM133.6bil for calendar year 2007
from RM42.5bil a year earlier, bolstered by mergers and acquisitions and
investment activities last year.
?This translated into 87% of
the domestic market's RM153.4bil worth of rated corporate bonds for the same
period,? the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Among the sizeable debt
facilities rated by the company in the fourth quarter of last year included
Binariang GSM Sdn Bhd's RM19bil Islamic commercial papers/medium term notes
programme and RM3bil cumulative non-convertible Islamic junior sukuk, Class
Auto Receivables Bhd's RM10bil medium-term notes programme and RHB Bank
Bhd's RM3bil medium-term notes programme.
RAM Ratings director Datuk C. Rajandram said that the Malaysian corporate
bond market had increased in both depth and sophistication since 1991. ?Last
year marked another milestone in the development of the domestic capital
market, with Cagamas SME Bhd's synthetic securitisation of SME loans. This
is the first rated synthetic transaction in Malaysia, ? he said.
RAM Ratings said Islamic hybrids, i.e. Islamic debt instruments with
equity-like features, also made their mark last year. In total, the company
rated RM73.1bil of new sukuk issues in 2007. In terms of RAM Ratings' league
table for lead managers, CIMB Investment Bank Bhd again claimed pole
positions in both conventional and sukuk issues for 2007.
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