Asian Development Bank and Islamic Malaysia
ADB Launches MYR3.8 Billion Medium Term Note Programme in Malaysia
MANILA, PHILIPPINES – ADB - April 18/06 - ADB today launched its MYR3.8 billion, 15-year Medium Term Note
(MTN) Programme in the domestic capital market of Malaysia.
Simultaneously, ADB also launched its first issuance under the MTN Programme, amounting to MYR500 million with a maturity of five years. AmMerchant Bank Berhad
(AmMerchant Bank) is the lead arranger of this MTN Programme and lead manager for the first MTN issuance.
This issue marks the return of ADB to the Malaysian market after the success of its earlier MYR400 million Putra bonds issuance in November 2004. ADB was the first supranational to have issued a
MYR-denominated bond in the Malaysian capital market, following government initiative in October 2004.
ADB and AmMerchant Bank are conducting an investors’ roadshow today to present the MTN Programme and the first MTN issuance to institutional investors in Kuala Lumpur. Book-building will follow immediately and pricing will take place no later than Thursday, 20 April 2006. The MTN Programme is the first established by a supranational in the Malaysian capital market.
“ADB is very much pleased to have returned to the Malaysian capital market and is privileged to be the first supranational to have established this Programme in Malaysia,” said Mikio
Kashiwagi, ADB’s Treasurer.
The MTN Programme underscores ADB’s confidence in the Malaysian capital market. The launch represents another milestone in ADB’s quest to develop the region’s bond markets. Since early 2004, ADB has completed five market-opening transactions in the region’s local currency bond markets, including India, Malaysia, People’s Republic of China, the Philippines, and Thailand.
With these landmark issues, ADB continues its role as a pioneer in regional bond markets, providing local and international investors with highest quality debt securities supported with best practice issue standards and role model disclosure and documentation. ADB’s other market-opening transactions in the region include a Samurai bond issue in Japan 1970, an Arirang bond issue in the Republic of Korea in 1995, and a New Taiwan Dollar issue in Taipei,China in 1995.
“Issuances under the MTN Programme will deepen the Malaysian bond market by providing local and international investors with the highest quality debt securities. The launch of the MTN Programme will serve as a launchpad for future issuances,” said TC
Kok, Managing Director of AmMerchant Bank.
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United Nations funds competition for American Jobs
Partnership Launched to Create '3R' Knowledge Hub in Bangkok
BANGKOK, THAILAND - ADB - Aug 7/2006 - ADB, AIT, UNEP, and UNESCAP are jointly establishing a knowledge hub at Bangkok's Asian Institute of Technology with support from the UNEP Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific
(UNEP RRC.AP) on "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle" (3R).
Signing a Letter of Intent today at AIT were Bindu Lohani, Director General of ADB’s Regional and Sustainable Development Department; Said
Irandoust, President of AIT; Surendra Shrestha, Director of UNEP RRC.AP; and Rae Kwon Chung, Director of UNESCAP’s Environment and Sustainable Development Division.
The knowledge hub will function as a think tank on technology, good practices, policy strategy and management, and issues related to 3R, which promotes sustainable production and consumption of limited natural resources, and improved economic and environmental efficiency.
Among the major functions of the 3R knowledge hub, it will
Undertake research and disseminate new concepts on 3R to the region's developing countries and other stakeholders;
Promote sharing of information on development related topics and collaborations in providing new and constantly updated content on 3R throughout the region;
Build research capacity to create knowledge in the area of 3R;
Liaise with academic, research, and scientific and technical institutions, the private sector, and civil society;
Devise and disseminate new information products on 3R, including periodicals, website and newsletters, workshops, and training courses.
3R is a major focus of AIT, a postgraduate institution with a track record stretching over four decades. Its expertise and experience encompasses solid waste (municipal, industrial and hazardous), water, energy, electronic, and construction materials, dealing with technical and management aspects.
The United Nations Environment Programme’s RRC.AP was established in 1989 under UNEP’s Division of Early Warning and Assessment to encompass activities on capacity building and servicing, data management, and assessment and reporting. It has strong linkages with government and civil society groups in the region to collect and disseminate 3R information, policy strategy, management, and good practices.
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific actively promotes environmentally sustainable economic growth or "Green Growth," addressing not just the pure environmental agenda, but also broader policy concerns regarding integration of environment and socioeconomic development objectives. UNESCAP has firm linkage with economic and social sectors in the region so that it offers added value by collecting and disseminating 3R information through its network.
ADB, a major development institution dedicated to poverty reduction in the Asia and Pacific region, is supporting several knowledge hubs in the region, through regional grant assistance. It has this year signed agreements to establish a hub on clean energy at India’s Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and one on public finance at the Asia Institute of Management in Manila.