GCC

The head of Oman’s central bank has called for his country's borrowers to embrace capital market funding, with the sovereign widely expected to lead the charge itself with a large bond or sukuk.

Abu Dhabi’s government related entities (GREs) are expected to turn to the loan market this year as redemptions and expansion projects in the region increase the need for funding.

The Kingdom of Bahrain is considering a tap of its dual tranche note issued last November in a bid to save its investment grade rating, according to investors in the region.

In a secretive deal that has only come to light now, NBAD signed $1bn of tightly priced one year loans with five close relationship banks at the end of last year. The lenders were Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Crédit Agricole, Citigroup, HSBC and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi investment firm, has launched a $2bn loan refinancing and will likely aim for a tight margin despite a choppy Middle East loan market, according to bankers.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi has mandated six banks for investor meetings starting February 8.

Citi UAE has brought in Elissar Farah Antonios as its new chief executive officer.

A rally this week in crude oil has reduced short-term pressures, but exploration and production firms still face existential threats as liquidity and M&A odds worsen, said analysts.

A juicy Middle Eastern project finance loan — for Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) — will be signed by end of next week, according to a banker close to the deal.

The RMB is now the most active currency used by the United Arab Emirates and Qatar for direct payments with China and Hong Kong, the latest data from the Swift shows. This is despite global expectation of a further weakening in the renminbi.

Oman Telecoms (Omantel) sold a $130m-equivalent sukuk via auction in the domestic market on Wednesday. Though the issuer could have achieved tighter pricing in the loan market, it wanted to aid the development of the sukuk market in Oman, said bankers.

Emirates Global Aluminium has still not completed syndication of its $4.9bn seven year loan facility, despite bankers saying that the deal would have closed before the end of last year.