Mashreqbank, the largest privately-owned bank in the United Arab Emirates, printed its $500m return to market dollar bond from a book of $1.8bn on Tuesday. The Reg S note had been marketed in Hong Kong and Singapore as well as the UAE and London and was, by all accounts, a roaring success.
But it’s most notable feature was that $1bn of the $1.8bn order book was assembled in Asia business hours, before London had even opened. A whopping 27% of the final deal was allocated to Asian investors, much higher that the usual 5%-10%.
There is a lot of talk in the emerging markets about the need for issuers to diversify their funding bases and cast their nets further away from their domestic investors. Mashreqbank has shown that it can be done, even with a simple Reg S five year bond.
The rest of the Middle East should take note — Asian investor interest in Middle East bonds is back and with the right care and attention, is a market that is there for the taking. It's time to rack up those air miles.