Sime Darby Property's New Economy Venture fund secures RM2.6 bil sukuk programme in world-first data centre financing structure

KUALA LUMPUR (June 22): Sime Darby Property Bhd's New Economy Venture (NEV) fund has established a Sukuk Wakalah Programme of up to RM2.6 billion in nominal value, the developer stated in a media release today, creating what it describes as the world's first Sukuk financing structure designed to fund data centre infrastructure.

The Sukuk Wakalah is the first in the world to finance data centre infrastructure and the first to pair Islamic capital markets with a real estate private equity fund — a dual milestone that signals how seriously institutional money is taking Malaysia's digital infrastructure buildout.

The programme carries a seven-year tenure and was lodged with the Securities Commission Malaysia under the Lodge and Launch Framework.

Proceeds will finance the development pipeline held under Sime Darby Property NEV (Holdings) Sdn Bhd, the subsidiary through which the fund operates, including two seed assets that the group had previously announced but not yet detailed publicly.

Maybank Investment Bank Bhd serves as Sole Principal Adviser and Sole Lead Arranger, with Maybank Islamic Berhad acting as Shariah Adviser.

Maybank Investment Bank and the Asian Development Bank are Joint Sustainability Structuring Advisers, while Maybank Investment Bank and OCBC Al-Amin Bank Bhd are Joint Lead Managers.

The Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility — a trust fund administered by the ADB — is the Financial Guarantor for guaranteed tranches of the programme, which will be subscribed by Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd.

In practical terms, the structure means the NEV fund can raise debt through Islamic capital markets while retaining the flexibility of a private equity vehicle — combining cost-efficient financing with the ability to bring in co-investors at the fund level.

Alongside the Sukuk Programme, the group introduced a Green Finance Framework for Sime Darby Property NEV that was assigned a "Gold" Impact Assessment by MARC Solutions Sdn Bhd.

The rating places the subsidiary among early Asean adopters to undertake structured green finance impact evaluations specifically for data centre-led portfolios, a segment that draws frequent scrutiny for its energy intensity.

The framework allows green Sukuk issuances under the programme to align with the Asean Green Bond Standards set by the Asean Capital Markets Forum and the Securities Commission Malaysia's own Sustainable and Responsible Investment Sukuk Framework.

"The establishment of the Sukuk Programme marks another significant milestone in the growth of the New Economy Venture fund and reinforces our efforts to develop high-quality, new economy assets in the industrial, logistics and data centre space," said group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Azmir Merican.

With the Sukuk Programme now lodged and the Green Finance Framework in place, attention will turn to the pace at which the NEV fund draws down the facility and progresses its development pipeline.

The two previously announced seed assets represent the immediate deployment targets, though the RM2.6 billion programme size suggests the group anticipates a substantially larger portfolio taking shape over the seven-year tenure.

Specific asset details, completion timelines and fund investor composition had not been publicly disclosed at the time of this announcement.

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