International law firm Trowers & Hamlins has advised Mizuho Bank (Malaysia) Berhad in relation to a Shari'a compliant, bilateral, revolving trade financing facility of US$100 million made available to the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC).
ITFC is a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group established with the primary objective of advancing trade among OIC member countries, which would ultimately contribute to the overarching goal of improving socioeconomic conditions of the people across the world. This line of financing, which is ITFC's first partnership with a Japanese Bank, is intended to help ITFC extend its support to the OIC member countries under its COVID-19 response plan targeted towards supporting both public and private sectors.
The virtual signing ceremony took place on 8 September 2020 between Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, the Chief Executive Officer of ITFC, and Mr. Shojiro Mizoguchi, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Mizuho, and was witnessed by other high level representatives of Mizuho and ITFC.
Commenting on the Murabaha trade financing facility, Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, the Chief Executive Officer of ITFC, said:
"This line of financing from Mizuho will help ITFC meet its commitment to building capacity and economic growth in OIC member countries across the world's markets. This is an important milestone in ITFC's international presence and its strategy of extending partnership globally through partnership with banks both inside and outside of the OIC. Such relationships will help significantly to enhance trade and improve livelihoods across our member countries."
Mr. Shojiro Mizoguchi, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Mizuho, said:
"Mizuho is proud and honoured to sign this agreement with ITFC. This reflects our commitment to promote Shariah compliant finances globally and we believe this is a just a beginning to more collaborations with ITFC in the near future."
Elias Moubarak, Trowers & Hamlins partner who led the transaction commented,
"Our congratulations go to the Mizuho and ITFC teams on closing this transaction despite the challenging conditions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. This transaction follows a recent financing by Mizuho to IsDB (in relation to which we also advised Mizuho) and signals the development of an even stronger relationship between the IsDB Group and Mizuho, which we believe will have a positive impact on communities in a number of countries. We are proud and privileged to have been able to utilise our cross border, Islamic finance expertise to support Mizuho in relation to this important transaction."
The Trowers & Hamlins team in Kuala Lumpur advising on the transaction was led by partner Elias Moubarak with support from associates, Nicol Ong and Leanda Arul.
