Cleary Gottlieb, Lovells and Milbank as well as Malaysian law firms Kadir Andri & Partners and Zul Rafique & partners have all played roles in helping the Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) launch its US$1.5bn inaugural sukuk.

The offering has been dubbed the ‘jumbo sukuk’ because it one of the two largest global sukuks ever transacted, the first global corporate sukuk of 2009 and the largest issuance out of Asia (excluding Japan) in the last 5 years. The sukuk was triple-listed on the Euro MTF market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, Labuan International Financial Exchange and Bursa Malaysia (exempt regime).

The sukuk, which is being offered by Petronas Global Sukuk Ltd and due 2014, is running concurrently with a Rule 144A/Regulation S offering of US$3bn 5.25% senior notes due 2019 being issued by Petronas Capital Ltd.

A Cleary Gottlieb team led by SK Kang and Robert K. Williams, was retained by Petronas for US law matters, while the company turned to Kadir, Andri & Partners for Malaysian law advice. Lead managers CIMB, Citi and Morgan Stanley were represented as to English and Shariah law by a team from Lovells led by Rahail Ali. The firm’s Singapore and London offices also represented the Bank of New York Mellon in its roles as agents and as delegate trustee for the sukuk. The aforementioned lead managers turned to Milbank for their US law advice and sought Malaysian law counsel from Zul Rafique & partners.

 Lawyers to the Petronas Jumbo sukuk