JOHOR BAHRU, Malaysia, May 20 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In March 2020, Country Garden Real Estate (CGRE) successfully issued three tranches of Islamic Sukuk for a total of MYR495 million, with the longest tenure among them being seven years. Following the recent crisis of global financial markets due to the COVID-19 outbreak. These issuances are the reflection of the positive reception of the Company's most significant project, “Forest City”, as well as the demonstration of confidence that Malaysian capital markets have in both Country Garden Group and CGRE’s long term growth in Malaysia.

This is also shown by RAM Ratings that in Sep 2019 reaffirmed the AA3/Stable rating of CGRE’s Islamic Medium-Term Note (IMTN) Program.

Malaysia is currently one of the biggest markets for Islamic finance in the world. Sukuks are Islamic financial certificates (similar to a bond), that complies with Islamic religious law commonly known as Syariah. Sukuks had become extremely popular since 2000 when the first Sukuk was issued by Malaysia.

CGRE’s IMTN Programme was set up in 2015, which was first ever Ringgit Sukuk issued by a China-related corporate entity. It was bestowed with the Triple-A Islamic Finance Awards 2016 by The Asset and the League Awards 2016 by RAM.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/56c601e4-cb10-49d1-b88c-82d956544843

Forest City Johor, which is located adjacent to Singapore and situated in the Iskandar Special Zone of Johor, is currently the Group’s largest overseas project. To this date, the basic infrastructure of the Forest City has already been developed in scales.

At present, Forest City Johor has completed and has been starting to operate two hotels, a Commercial Street, a Water Theme Park, the American Shattuck St Mary International School, an Industrial Building System (IBS) factory, and two 18-hole international golf courses.

Moving forward, Forest City will continue its focus on sustainability, creating greater economic vitality for the region, enhancing regional value, and introducing industries stable and healthy development for the city. The introduction of large scale high-tech and scientific research institutions will improve the potential of the city's sustainable development.

Forest City Johor has won many awards and recognitions for promoting Malaysia's economic growth. In 2019, Forest City was granted with the CSR award by former Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and with the National Community Contribution to Strategic Friendship and Collaboration for its PPR projects and past CSR contributions to the community.

Country Garden Malaysia has considerable liquidity and a healthy balance. Sales have remained resilient across all projects, and they are in line with the Group’s encouraging recent announcement of its financial performance report. In 2019, the Group (including joint ventures and associates) achieved contracted sales attributable to shareholders of CNY552.2 billion, which represents a year-on-year increase of 10.03%. The Group's total revenue rose by 28.2% YoY to CNY485.91 billion. Moving forward, the Group confirms its positive long-term outlook, planning to explore more investment opportunities in Malaysia.

About Country Garden Forest City

Forest City was developed in collaboration with Country Garden. Located in the rapidly expanding Iskandar Malaysia Development Region, it adds another important source of economic growth in ASEAN. Forest City Johor focuses on the sustainable development of 8 industries: Tourism & MICE, Healthcare, Education & Training, Regional Headquarters, Coastal Finance, E-commerce, New Technology Development, and Green and Smart Technology. Designed to be a technology-driven living and working place, Forest City is the smart city model for the future.

Media Contact
Company Name: Forest City
Telephone: +607 505 8888
Address: Jalan Forest City 1, Forest City, Pulau Satu, 81500 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Website: https://forestcitycgpv.com/ 

SOURCE : COUNTRY GARDEN PACIFICVIEW SDN. BHD.

--BERNAMA