At the forefront of Islamic finance legal services
The Islamic Finance industry possesses considerable future growth prospects across a wide range of economies and sectors.
King & Wood Mallesons’ multi-disciplinary team brings a holistic understanding of the cultural and legal background to asset-based lending and Sharia compliant finance and how it can be applied to a range of transactions in Australia and regionally.
Our lawyers have experience in structuring a range of transactions to fit within the constraints of local tax, securities and asset transfer laws; adopting and modifying structures and concepts used globally in Sharia compliant financing arrangements.
We have worked extensively on large-scale asset and structured finance transactions. We have also assisted a number of providers to roll out Islamic finance products for retail and corporate customers. This includes reviews and advice regarding taxation, credit analysis and regulatory compliance of the core concepts and structures when applied in Australia or APAC jurisdictions.
A holistic understand with cutting edge solutions
Committed to ensuring our clients understand the potential impacts of regulations on Sharia compliant financiers means we provide the most innovative, complex and sophisticated finance solutions in Asia and beyond.
Our multi-disciplined team brings together the expertise of our award-winning finance, private equity and real estate practices to provide a holistic understanding of the religious and legal background to Islamic finance and how it can be applied to a range of transactions.
KWM hosted the Annual Islamic Finance Network (IFN) Forum in 2018 and 2019 and has been a supporter of initiatives to assist in the development of Sharia complaint funding tools in Australia.
Examples of Islamic finance experience, include:
- Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam: on the 2018 financing of 7 Boeing and Airbus aircraft for Royal Brunei Airways.
- Liberty Financial: in relation to tax analysis of certain financial instrument products.
- Qatar Islamic Bank: on its US$191 million Murabaha financing for Barwa Real Estate Company.
- Maybank Investment Bank (Malaysia): advised the client in respect of a RM$923 million fixed-rate Islamic bonds restructuring exercise by a subsidiary of a public listed company, including the preparation of all relevant documentation.
- Maybank Investment Bank (Malaysia): advised the client in respect of a RM$150 million issuance of conventional 7-year Commercial Papers and Medium Term Notes by a listed air-freight company to refinance its existing borrowings, to fund future investments and to raise working capital.
- AmInvestment Bank (Malaysia): advised the client in respect of its RM$60 million 7-year Islamic Commercial Papers and Medium Term Notes offering by a listed timber company to refinance its existing borrowings, to fund future investments and to raise working capital.
- TH Properties Sdn Bhd: on its Murabaha financing of certain residential development projects in Wentworth Point, Lidcombe and Rockdale, New South Wales.
- Piety Investments: on its purchaser side Murabaha financing at Wentworth Point, New South Wales.
- Keppel Corporation Limited: on certain Islamic compliant financings for data centres in Sydney, New South Wales.
- Securus Data Property Fund (now Keppel DC REIT): on Shariah compliant acquisition and financing of the iSeek Enterprise Data Centre, Brisbane, QLD and the Gore Hill Data Centre, Sydney, NSW.
- Malaysia: advised a merchant bank in respect of a RM$300 million 7-year Islamic Commercial Papers and Medium-Term Notes by a listed construction company to refinance its existing borrowings, to fund future investments and borrowings and for future investments and to raise working capital.
- Shariah compliant fund: on the establishment of US$1 billion Shariah complaint fund that will invest in Indonesian assets, with a focus on natural resources, infrastructure and real estate.
- Australian and Middle East financial institutions: on the establishment of an Islamic investment fund in Australia.
- A leading European investment bank: on the Shari’a compliant structuring of a borrower based upstream oil field financing.
- PAG: acting on a Murabaha based property development financings.
- Australian Bank: advising on Sukuk options/structures for first to market issuance.
- AEP, a Singapore Fund: acting on a Sharia compliant structure (Wakala) for the funding of commercial buildings in Brisbane and Sydney.
- Heathly Funds: acting in relation to Sharia Complaint borrowing (Wakala) for a series of medical centres throughout Queensland.
- HSBC: redrafting Amanah documentation for use in Australia with retail customers.
- TH Properties Sdn Bhd: advised on a bilateral non-revolving single draw facility with a total facility amount of $60,146,000 (comprised of dual tranches), for a residential property development at 18, 20, 22 and 24 Railway Street, Lidcombe, New South Wales (“Lidcombe Project”).
- Power project in Pakistan: advised Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Islamic Development Bank on the US$150 million limited-recourse financing of a power project in Pakistan involving both conventional and Islamic financing.
- Confidential Client: acting in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania in relation to project related security issues for an oil and gas financing.
Our Team members have also acted for a number of funds, financial institutions and corporate borrower groups in previous firms on sharia compliant products.
