GCC
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Market participants have high expectations for Middle East bond issuance in the first quarter of the year. So far, a range of issuers from across the credit spectrum have entered markets, despite global market volatility. -
First Abu Dhabi Bank, the United Arab Emirates’ largest bank, came to market to sell a sterling bond on Tuesday, having already issued a number of deals since the start of the year.
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Oman Electricity Transmission Company, a partially state-owned utility company, entered the market on Wednesday for a dollar bond, just two weeks after the high yielding sovereign raised a dollar offering.
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Arab Petroleum Investment Corp — the multilateral development bank — held investor calls on Monday for a bond offering, nine months after its previous dollar outing. Although emerging market SSA issuance has been dominated by low rated, high yielding credits since the start of the year, investment grade issuers will begin to trickle in, bankers say.
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Qatar National Bank, a frequent issuer in the offshore renminbi bond market, has sold its first deal of the year in the currency, raising Rmb1.5bn ($232m).
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Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank sold an additional tier one bond this week. Some see the trade from the kingdom’s largest financial institution as a prelude to a bond sale by the sovereign, which could happen next week.
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The Kingdom of Bahrain launched a $2bn triple-tranche bond on Wednesday, the second sovereign trade from the Gulf region this year. Both trades have, somewhat unexpectedly, been done by junk-rated governments.
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Turkey and Bahrain took to primary markets to raise bond funding on Tuesday. But the appearance of two high yield credits has not driven unqualified enthusiasm for all borrowers in that asset class.
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Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank (NCB), the largest financial institution in the kingdom, has mandated banks to arrange a tier one dollar sukuk. The deal may act as a prelude to a potential bond sale by the sovereign, which bankers say could happen as early as this week.
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Saudi Arabia has secured an export financing agreement with Korea’s export credit agency and trade insurance corporation. The deal, which will bolster trade between the two, is the kingdom’s second ECA-backed deal.
