Winner: BNP Paribas Najmah
BNP Paribas Najmah was able to add a crucial new dimension to its existing ship and aircraft Islamic leasing business this year. It did so through a deal that is impressive enough to propel the French bank to the award for best leasing house. The financing of up to eight Airbus 320-200 aircraft for Air Asia, a low-cost carrier based in Kuala Lumpur, was done through the first Islamic French-Malaysian transaction of its kind. The deal involved a Shariah-compliant French single-investor ijara for up to $336 million.
The purchase of each aircraft was through a mix of euro-denominated equity, a dollar-denominated investment agency agreement (wakala) from Islamic financiers, and a dollar-denominated wakala granted by Air Asia and refinanced by a ringgit-denominated commodity murabaha. The structure enabled capital and investment allowances granted by the Malaysian government to be preserved. The deal also complied with the wish of the Malaysian authorities to make Malaysia an Islamic financing hub for the Asia-Pacific region.
“The aircraft are sold by Airbus to the airline. The airline then sells the aircraft to an entity in Labuan [an offshore island of Malaysia], which then in turn sells the aircraft to the French lessor,” says Dominique Jaillon, director and head of optimization and structured leasing for Asia Pacific at BNP Paribas.
The first aircraft was delivered in June 2008, with seven more by November.
