Middle East

A surge in shareholder activism is providing banks with a lucrative new source of revenue, but they have to tread carefully or risk losing treasured corporate relationships, writes David Rothnie.

Islamic Development Bank is expected to raise $1.5bn with a five year sukuk on Wednesday.

The calls have started to emerge for Turkey to turn to the IMF. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has always been dead set against the idea — and perhaps that’s for the best.

Trading of Saudi Aramco’s $12bn bond has slowed considerably since it was priced on Tuesday last week, but all five tranches have failed to rebound to reoffer, and the longer ones were 1.5 points down by Wednesday afternoon this week.

The Arabian Centres Co, a Saudi Arabian owner and operator of shopping centres, has launched a listing on the Saudi stock exchange.

The Islamic Development Bank has announced initial price thoughts for a five year sukuk dollar bond — its first since a euro benchmark in November 2018.

First Abu Dhabi Bank has printed two sterling private placements in the last week — the most recent Tuesday morning’s £120m note through JP Morgan — adding to a flurry of sterling trades from the Middle East.

Turkey is butting heads with Nato over the purchase of a Russian missile system, with the diplomatic tensions weighing on the nation’s currency and asset prices. This is despite the improving economic data offering signs that the country may be leaving recession.

The United Arab Emirate's largest Islamic bank, Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), is considering buying its smaller rival Noor Bank, according to bankers. The purchase would add to the string of M&A deals Gulf banks have pursued in the last two years, prompted by tougher regulation and a drop in oil prices.

Bank are having to dig deep and increase their country lending limits to manage the vast amount of business expected to come from the Gulf as government expenditure across the region grows. The next big deal off the rank will be from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is expected to tap the loan market for a bridge loan of up to $11bn in coming months, bankers said, following its highly successful debut deal in September. Mariam Meskin reports.

Dubai-based property firm Damac has raised £175m to finance the development of its first luxury real estate project in London, Damac Tower. The deal comes amid prolonged Brexit uncertainty and a slump in the UAE’s real estate market.

Turkey’s finance minister, Berat Albayrak, announced an economic reform programme on Wednesday that left bond investors underwhelmed by promises of TL28bn ($4.88bn) of capital support for Turkey’s state banks. However, the loans refinancing season is progressing undeterred.