Middle East

A week that started with a panic about the potential for conflict between Iran and the US appeared to end with capital market issuance conditions so good as to be marked “10 out of 10”. As the loan market defied Middle East risk, borrowers and bond bankers are gearing up for a week ahead of huge issuance, while equity bankers are ruing missed opportunities. Sam Kerr, Mariam Meskin and Francesca Young report.

The State of Israel printed a $3bn dual tranche dollar bond on Thursday from a combined book of $20bn, helping to buoy confidence in the CEEMEA market as US-Iran tensions faded. The bond was Israel’s largest ever deal and its tightest price in terms of spread.

Turkiye Sinai Kalkinma Bankasi (TSKB) has mandated for a five year senior unsecured dollar bond as investors breathed a sigh of relief over the calming of tensions between the US and Iran.

Two major insiders offloaded £375m of stock in NMC Health, the troubled UAE-based private healthcare company to cover debts on Tuesday. The share sale, which was priced at a 19.7% discount to close, came weeks after a short selling attack on NMC Health by US activist hedge fund Muddy Waters, which caused the company to lose more than half of its market value.

Equity investors were hopeful that the tension between the US and Iran will lessen after the latter responded to the former's assassination of its military commander Qasem Soleimani with a limited tactical strike against US bases in the Middle East.

Equity market participants were stunned last Friday after the US assassinated Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. It followed what had been a strong end to 2019 in the market with many hopeful the momentum would carry into this year. But banks and investors need to be prepared for shocks, especially as domestic pressure on US president Donald Trump increases in the run up to November's election.

Robert "Bob" Fernandez, a veteran of EM debt capital markets, has joined Saudi Aramco's treasury.

Bahrain Mumtalakat, the country's sovereign wealth fund, is embarking on a roadshow with plans to print a seven year dollar sukuk. A syndicate official away from the deal called the move “courageous” given the political volatility in the Middle East.

Many investors made their first trades of the new year on Monday selling risk positions. That has thrown into doubt issuers' plans to bring new business to the primary market.

The State of Israel was first out of the blocks for emerging markets bonds on Monday, as it announced a dual tranche dollar offering despite market participants' continued caution after the US assassination of Qassem Soleimani.

A weekend of hostile rhetoric between Iran and the US has caused equity capital markets bankers to consider delaying new deals from the Middle East despite a healthy issuance pipeline, over fears that the two countries are gearing up for war.

With emerging markets bond bankers all ready to start deploying their pipelines next week, the US threw a potential spanner in the works on Friday when it killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.