Middle East Bonds

National Bank of Abu Dhabi revealed its new capital markets leadership on Thursday, following the bank’s merger with First Gulf Bank.

Gulf Cooperation Council governments are expected to raise $32.5bn in international sovereign bonds this year, down from the record $38.9bn last year, said Moody’s in a report on Tuesday.

This week saw the entry of Kuwait into the capital markets. The sovereign’s long awaited debut received orders of $29bn at peak, proving that demand for the region is as strong as ever. Now Argentina is looking to print a rare Swiss franc deal.

Kuwait nipped in on Monday ahead of the Fed decision this week to raise $8bn with its debut bond, establishing a liquid benchmark at the five and 10 year parts of the curve. While the emphatic statement the deal made was not in question, there was debate about the bonds’ relative value against other Gulf sovereigns.

Attractive pricing helped Kuwait build a huge order book on Monday morning for its debut bond as bankers debated where pricing should land for the sovereign.

The Lebanese Republic has mandated four banks to tap into the long end of the bond market with a multi-tranche dollar deal, ahead of what bankers expect will be another busy start to the week ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

It has been all about sub debt in CEEMEA this week, as a trio of borrowers took advantage of investor appetite for yield to boost their capital bases.

Warba Bank was on course to become the third Kuwaiti lender to raise capital via the sukuk market after setting final guidance for a debut additional tier one (AT1) deal.

Qatar Re drew nearly $6.5bn of demand for its debut hybrid dollar deal, the first in the format from an insurer from the CEEMEA region.

Qatar Re has emerged with pricing for the first ever hybrid from a Gulf insurer following the conclusion of a three day roadshow on Friday.

Even as some investors fretted about Oman’s economic welfare, a stampede of orders into the country's $5bn triple tranche deal on Wednesday augured well for the hefty sovereign issuance to come from Gulf sovereigns this year — the next of which has a bigger deal to do and arguably a better tale to tell in the process, one it will tell next week. Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker and Virginia Furness report.

Perpetuals are aplenty in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with Qatar Reinsurance and Warba Bank lining up trades for next week after top corporate GCC corporate Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) accelerated pricing for its hybrid note on Wednesday. The yield pick-up offered by perpetual products is a no-brainer for investors in the low rate environment, say bankers in the GCC.