GCC

Two Eurobonds issued by EA Partners were still stuck trading around 85-87 on Tuesday after Air Berlin announced its insolvency last week with investors leftwaiting for further announcements from the issuer.

Investors missed a strategic warning from Etihad earlier this year when the company removed the CEO in charge of its $4bn expansion strategy, and were blindsided this week when its partner airline Air Berlin filed for bankruptcy, write Virginia Furness and Aidan Gregory.

“I was confused before I went in, and even more confused when I came out,” was how one EM investor described meeting Etihad and its partners to discuss its now infamous structured notes.

Saudi Electricity Co (SEC), the largest utility company in the Middle East and North Africa, signed its largest international syndicated loan of $1.75bn on Wednesday with eight banks.

Air Berlin’s move to file for insolvency has caused a 12 cash point sell off in two structured bonds issued by Etihad called EA Partners I and II, but backed by airline partners including both Alitalia and Air Berlin.

The spat between Qatar and its GCC neighbours has reared its ugly head in the capital markets, with the possibility of Abu Dhabi informally boycotting Qatari-owned banks on the table. But neither side is likely to really feel the pinch.

Abu Dhabi’s national energy company Taqa is looking to issue a new bond to refinance $500m of debt due in October.

First Abu Dhabi Bank’s head of loan distribution Steve Perry has left the bank, five months after he joined the capital markets team as part of First Gulf Bank and National Abu Dhabi Bank’s merger.

HSBC has named a new head of DCM in Dubai, GlobalCapital understands.

African politics had the focus of EM bond investors on Wednesday morning with South Africa’s president Zuma surviving a no-confidence vote, and Kenya’s presidential vote looking like a victory for the incumbent, Uhuru Kenyatta. Africa has also provided this week’s only new issue, a $200m tap from the Gabon.

The continued severance of diplomatic ties between Qatar and its neighbours is a growing risk to the country’s banks’ capital raising efforts, which have the heaviest reliance on overseas funding in the Gulf.

The National Bank of Ras Al-Khaimah (Rakbank) launched its first syndicated loan on Tuesday for $250m with a three year tenor.