GCC

Saudi Electricity Company is asking to pay a margin of between 35bp and 50bp for a basket of up to $5bn of loans, according to a banker on the deal.

Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) has closed its $3bn refinancing, with the deal oversubscribed despite what loan officials described as “aggressive” negotiations with banks.

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise will repay $705m of loans ahead of schedule with funds from the sale of its maintenance, repair and operations unit, StandardAero.

The Abu Dhabi based Emirates Motor Company (EMC) has closed a $175m loan that includes an Islamic component with four banks.

Omani oil & gas firm Renaissance Services sold a dual tranche dollar and Omani rial perpetual bond on Wednesday amounting to $125m.

Omani oil and gas firm Renaissance Services has sold a dual tranche dollar and Omani rial perpetual bond amounting to $125m.

In this round-up, Hong Kong deposits rose in April, but cross-border RMB trade settlement fell, Macau announced its March deposit figures, ICBC opened two new offshore branches in Montreal and Riyadh, RMB clearing in South Korea has reached a daily average of Rmb25bn, and Japanese bank MUFG helped Brazilian clients settle trade with China in RMB.

With Middle East countries becoming increasingly important trade partners for China, the Gulf region is rapidly assuming a central position in the investment ambitions of Chinese corporates. But the links go both ways, with MidEast companies also stepping up their operations in China. Chris Wright looks at the two regions' growing links.

In this round up, China cross-border RMB trade settlement hits new historical record in March, Hong Kong sees a 31% increase in RMB clearing in the same month, the Moscow Exchange sees record RMB/RUB FX swaps turnover, CCB is launching new subsidiaries in five overseas markets, and RMB clearing officially launches in Malaysia and Qatar.

The sixth offshore RMB clearing bank appointment of the year was unveiled on Tuesday, when the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) announced that it had picked Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Doha Branch as the renminbi clearing bank for Qatar. The move is the first such appointment in the Middle East and follows similar announcements this year in London, Frankfurt, Seoul, Paris and Luxembourg.

Bahrain began a roadshow this week to gauge demand for a conventional dollar deal. Analysts expect its borrowing needs to rise sharply in order to stem a growing fiscal deficit, but this worrying trend could also turn some investors away.

Taqa, the Abu Dhabi National Energy Co, made a dazzling entry into the international capital markets this week, pricing the largest ever straight bond issue from the Middle East — a three-tranche blowout totalling the equivalent of $3.5bn that pulled $10bn of demand.