The Kuala Lumpur-headquartered International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation ( IILM ) has secured a new high-quality asset worth US$500 million as it expands its asset pool  to meet the growing demand for its short-term Islamic papers.

With the inclusion of a new underlying asset in its portfolio, the IILM completed the issuance and reissuance of an aggregate US$810 million short-term sukuk across three different tenors of one, three and twelve months.

The three series were priced competitively at:

• 4.50% for US$390 million for one-month tenor
• 4.52% for US$275 million for three-month tenor
• 4.45% for US$145 million for 12-month tenor.

The auction saw a competitive tender among the primary dealers and investors globally, with a strong orderbook of US$1.74 billion, representing an impressive average bid-to-cover ratio 215%.

The short-term sukuk transaction marks the IILM’s fifth auction year-to-date, with cumulative issuances totalling US$5.05 billion across 14 sukuk series of varying tenors.

The issuance forms part of the IILM’s A-1 ( S&P ) and F1 ( Fitch Ratings ) rated US$6 billion short-term sukuk issuance programme. The total amount of IILM sukuk outstanding currently stands at US$4.69 billion.

The IILM’s short-term sukuk is distributed by a diversified network of primary dealers globally, namely Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Al Baraka Turk, Affin Islamic Bank, Boubyan Bank, CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad, Dukhan Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Golden Global Investment Bank, Kuwait Finance House, Kuwait International Bank, Maybank Islamic Berhad, Meethaq Islamic Banking from Bank Muscat, Qatar Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.

“This successful auction is well supported by a robust orderbook and competitive pricing, which clearly reflects the appeal of IILM’s short-term sukuk as a safe-haven Islamic instrument,” says Mohamad Safri Shahul Hamid, the IILM’s chief executive officer. “As market volatility persists, institutional investors continue to prioritize IILM sukuk for its resilience, liquidity and alignment with international regulatory standards.

“We are in a very exciting phase of our growth and expecting to see a steady increase in our outstanding sukuk asset pool in the coming months with at least a couple more new assets to be onboarded by the end of the first half of the year.”