GCC

Equity-linked bond investors were left hurting again this week after bonds and shares in NMC Healthcare, the London-listed Emirati private healthcare business, were hit by accusations of fraud by short seller Muddy Waters. This is another painful episode for the convertible bond market after its troubles with Wirecard earlier in 2019, and an earlier scandal at Steinhoff International.

Shares in NMC Health, the London-listed Emirati private healthcare business, plunged more than 20% on Tuesday morning after US activist short seller Muddy Waters said it had grave concerns about the company’s balance sheet and financial statements, hitting the firm's convertible bonds.

Sources close to Saudi Aramco breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday, when trading in its shares accelerated, after a very slow and stuttering start the previous day. The action propelled the Saudi oil champion's stock higher, but more importantly for international investors, the more liquid flow should make it easier for them to buy the stock when it is added to MSCI's emerging markets index next week.

Saudi Aramco stock rose 10% on its first day of trading on the Saudi stock exchange on Wednesday, after its historic $25.6bn IPO last week. Aramco hit its daily limit for share price movement of 10% in its first trading hours, as a combination of local demand and scarce sellers drove the price higher.

Bankers in Doha this week were eager to start a World Cup funding run in Qatar, as concerns over the Gulf state’s conflict with Saudi Arabia began to dissipate.

Saudi Arabia has completed the largest IPO ever, the listing of its economic crown jewel, the oil producer Saudi Aramco. However, a deal sold almost entirely to local investors was a missed opportunity to secure international backing for crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 plan for the country, writes Sam Kerr.

IHS Markit and Tadawul, the Saudi Stock Exchange, are forming a partnership to create indices for Saudi Arabia’s local currency bond and sukuk markets.

Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) has refinanced an existing $1.5bn loan with tighter margins. The deal is one of just a few raised in Bahrain this year, which has seen the number of syndicated loan deals drop almost 50%.

Saudi Arabia’s listing of its prized asset, oil producer Saudi Aramco, was supposed to lure international investors into the kingdom. On that score, the deal will be a failure as pricing was set so high that only locals were interested. Now it seems global funds will have little reason to buy the shares once they start trading. Sam Kerr reports.

A handful of rare visitors came to the marker this week to place debt in dollars and yen, and bankers scrambled for a QNB mandate.

Global coordinators say that they are working hard to bring international orders into the book for the IPO of Saudi Aramco, which is also attracting large pools of local demand.

State-owned airline Dubai Aviation Corporation, known as flydubai, has refinanced its debut sukuk into a term loan — a rare win this year for the loan market, which has declined while attractive issuance conditions boost DCM volumes.