Middle East

Investors this week have again affirmed their confidence that Middle Eastern issuance will be the redeeming factor in emerging markets this year with a handful of names expected to raise debt, despite a challenging third quarter.

MEA-based waste management services provider Averda has amended and extended an existing term loan facility, garnering 70% oversubscription.

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund (PIF), is close to finalising its second syndicated loan, which is scheduled for September. Margins are slimmer than on the borrower’s debut last year, according to bankers, though some in the market wondered if the fund will push even further on pricing before the deal is done.

Equity bankers flew out to the Middle East this week to pitch for roles in the IPO of Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state oil and gas giant, according to equity capital markets sources.

The Middle East is facing its heaviest ever redemption schedule at the start of 2020, and investors are expecting the region to dominate the primary market when issuance begins in September.

Albaraka Turk Participation Bank and the Islamic Development Bank have signed a $40m Islamic financing facility to support small and medium enterprises in Turkey.

A number of highly anticipated emerging market IPO issuers are understood to have shifted listing plans to next year instead of the last quarter of 2019.

ING's Turkish arm, ING Bank AS, has raised a $309m-equivalent trade finance loan from international lenders. The deal is a precursor to the year's second round of Turkish bank refinances, expected to begin in the next month.

The rout of the incumbent president Mauricio Macri in the first round of the Argentina elections has investors worried. Argentina’s debt, and that of other 'vulnerable' credits, suffered a huge sell-off early on Monday. But bankers believe that it was not so bad that the primary market will not reopen in September.

Middle East loans activity has fallen this year, confounding last year's hopes among bankers, with blame falling indirectly on the US-China trade war and sluggish global growth.

Emerging market loan bankers have been trying to understand the impact on syndicated lending of the US’s latest sanctions on Russia. The proscriptions have instilled more uncertainty into a collapsing market.

United Arab Emirates aircraft lessor Dubai Aerospace Enterprise has raised $490m in loans, its third syndicated loan in the last 12 months.