Johor Plantations Group Berhad announced that it has successfully issued its inaugural Sukuk Wakalah in aggregate of RM1.35 billion in nominal value (Sukuk Issuance) from its Sukuk Wakalah Programmes.

With this Sukuk issuance, JPG said it will see a significant reduction in its annual interest expenses. The blended profit rate for the RM1.3 billion IMTN (Islamic Medium-Term Notes) issuance is set at 4.08%, compared to an average of 5.12% on existing facilities. This translates to an approximate saving of RM12.8 million annually, improving the group's cash flow and enhancing profitability.

Upon repayment of the Islamic Syndicated Term Financing (STF-i) of RM1.5 billion and the Islamic Term Financing (TF-i) of RM500 million, collateral valued at RM2.4 billion will be released.The proceeds from the Issuance it said will be used for Shariah-compliant purposes, including refinancing its existing and future Shariah-compliant borrowings, supporting working capital, investments and capital expenditure as well as covering fees and expenses related to establishing the Sukuk Wakalah
Programmes.

Structured on the Shariah principle of Wakalah Bi Al-Istithmar, the issuance marks the world's first Sustainability-Linked Sukuk in the plantation sector, and also the first rated Sukuk under the Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) Linked Sukuk Guidelines by the Securities Commission in Malaysia. The Sukuk features a one-way upward adjustment to its profit rates linked to JPG's achievement of pre-determined sustainability performance targets. The targets include 50% carbon intensity
reduction (Scope 1 and 2) against its 2012 baseline, 100% traceability to fresh fruit bunches (FFB) suppliers by 2025 and annual water consumption of 1.2 cubic meters per metric tonne FFB and below.

Maybank Investment Bank acted as the Sole Principal Adviser, Sole Sustainability Structuring Adviser, Joint Lead Arranger and Joint Lead Manager for the Sukuk Issuance. nce, exceeding our 2025 target of RM80 billion."