Meezan Bank Enertech Sukuk transaction declared “Most innovative deal of the year award” by IFN

Kuala Lumpur February 8 2022: Meezan Bank and Pakistan Kuwait Investment Company (Pvt) Limited – led Long Term Sukuk transaction, structured for Enertech, received two prestigious awards including ‘Pakistan Deal of the Year’ and ‘Most innovative Deal of the Year’ by Islamic Finance News, REDmoney Group, Malaysia, a press release said today.
Meezan Bank is also acting as Investment Agent, Security Agent and Accounts Bank for the Sukuk transaction.
IFN announced EnerTech’s Sukuk as the ‘Most Innovative Deal of the Year’ globally ahead of Sukuk issuances by Maybank in Malaysia and Kuveyt Turk in Turkey. EnerTech’s Sukuk facility of PKR 2 billion has been structured as a quasi-equity instrument embedded with conversion and put option.
IFN commented in relation to the deal: “Enertech’s innovation flows from its structure. The Sukuk is designed as a quasi-equity instrument to finance the local equity requirement of a 60 km water pipeline project being developed by Enertech in Thar, Sindh. This highly structured transaction inserts the Sukuk holders into a concession agreement. This has previously been challenging for Islamic financiers to achieve in project financings.”
EnerTech has also been awarded the ‘Pakistan Deal of the Year’. Other shortlisted transactions which received honourable mentions in the category included the Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited (PMCL) syndicated finance facility and the Government of Pakistan’s Euro Sukuk facility.
IFN stated: “Enertech reflects a significant increase in the Pakistani markets’ sophistication. The capital of the project obligor was strengthened through a quasi-equity Sukuk offering. This created a sound financial footing for the Meezan Bank led syndicate to complete the financing.”
IFN also shortlisted the Long-Term Project Finance Facility of PKR 25.5 billion for Enertech under the category of ‘Project and Infrastructure Finance Deal of the Year’ globally. The Meezan Bank and Pak Kuwait Investment Company (Pvt) Ltd led consortium inked the project finance facility agreements for the water supply and storage project in November 2021, Karachi. This is the largest public-private partnership financing facility raised for the Government of Sindh.
Enertech is a fully owned subsidiary of National Technology and Enterprise Company, which in turn is a fully owned subsidiary of Kuwait Investment Authority. The project constitutes a total infrastructure investment of approximately USD 180 million generating economic activity in the country and would enable the development and uplifting of Thar, Sindh. The successful implementation of the project is also expected to motivate other foreign investors to explore the infrastructure sector of Pakistan especially under public-private partnership mode.