Middle East Bonds

Saudi Electricity Co has picked banks and lined up roadshows this week as it looks to return to the sukuk market. The company is planning a long dated 144A tranche of at least 15 years as part of the offering, which would make it the first sukuk borrower to look beyond five years since the emerging markets sell-off in May last year.

The Republic of Lebanon has picked Bank Audi, Byblos Bank and Deutsche Bank for a Eurobond issue, which it will combine with an exchange offer on its 2014 bonds.

First Gulf Bank is set to price its debut Kangaroo bond on Tuesday, becoming the second financial from the Middle East to sell bonds in the format this year.

Saudi Electricity Co has picked banks and lined up roadshows this week as it looks to return to the dollar sukuk market. The company is planning a long dated 144A tranche of at least 15 years as part of the offering, which would make it the first sukuk borrower to look beyond five years since the emerging markets sell-off in May last year.

The Central Bank of Bahrain has issued BD36m ($93.7m) of three month al salam sukuk, with the sale oversubscribed by 311%.

The Republic of Lebanon has mandated Deutsche Bank and Bank Audi for its next Eurobond issue. It is paying 2c for the deal, with banks absorbing expenses. A liability management exercise will take place in conjunction with the new issue, according to a banker away from the deal.

Gulf Keystone Petroleum has picked Deutsche Bank and Pareto Securities to arrange a RegS/144A three year transaction of up to $250m. The deal could mark only the second Iraqi or Kurdistan new Eurobond issue since the start of the 2003 war.

Gulf bank sukuk is coming back on the radar for international investors for the first time since October, but not from regular sources. Oman’s Bank Muscat will begin speaking to regional banks next week about a debut, and Bahrain’s Gulf Finance House will ask shareholders to approve its first new deal since the financial crisis.

Oman’s Bank Muscat will meet with banks next week to discuss plans for its debut sukuk, after gaining shareholders’ approval to establish a Or500m ($1.3bn) sukuk programme, with the possibility of international issuances. Muscat also received shareholders' approval to expand its Euro Medium Term Note programme from $800m to $2bn, according to a senior official at the bank.

Gulf bank sukuk is coming back on the radar for international investors for the first time since October, but not from regular sources. Oman’s Bank Muscat will begin speaking to regional banks next week about a debut, and Bahrain’s Gulf Finance House will ask shareholders to approve its first new deal since the financial crisis.

The first mandate for a new Iraqi bond has been given since the start of the war in 2003. Gulf Keystone Petroleum has picked Deutsche Bank and Pareto Securities to arrange a RegS/144A three year transaction of up to $250m.

Dubai’s rollover of $20bn in debt with the UAE central bank and Abu Dhabi has banished the last spectres of the 2009 Dubai World crisis. But while its new found breathing room makes the emirate a very attractive proposition, what Dubai chooses to do with this should be the litmus test for foreign investors.