Middle East

Qatar National Bank has added to a busy run of funding with a $1bn two year private placement that it sold to a single investor, according to sources. The region's banks have tapped the Islamic and Taiwanese markets and issued in Aussie dollars.

Qatar National Bank has added to its run of funding with a $1bn two year private placement, according to sources.

Chinese investors welcomed the first Panda bond issuer from the Middle East with caution this week. The government of the Emirate of Sharjah sold a Rmb2bn ($317.2m) three year bond in the upper half of the coupon range.

First Abu Dhabi Bank will follow Dubai Islamic Bank to the sukuk market as GCC banks look to tap into the enormous pool of Islamic liquidity in the region.

Akbank is taking the lead as usual in the spring round of Turkish bank refinancings. It has launched a loan to refinance the $1.2bn loan it took out in March last year. Pricing is set to compress further as lenders remain positive about Turkey, despite its recent invasion of Syria.

The long anticipated US Treasury Department report on oligarchs and parastatal entities of the Russian Federation was published on Monday night, but no indication of the Treasury’s recommendation on sanctioning Russian government debt was given.

Dubai Islamic Bank took advantage of a quiet market to raise $1bn with a skinny new issue premium on Tuesday, opening the sukuk market for financial issuers from the Gulf.

Dubai Islamic Bank on Tuesday launched the first public dollar bond this year from the Middle East, though the region's banks have been busy funding in other markets.

The government of the Emirate of Sharjah is set to become the first issuer from the Middle East to enter the Panda market, after unveiling plans to raise Rmb2bn ($315.9m) from the onshore market.

Qatar National Bank is expected to sign its $3bn loan refinancing in the first week of February, according to a source close to the deal.

Martin Weber, a Goldman Sachs managing director, is moving to Dubai to run the bank’s MENA financing group, with more hires planned to follow in the region.

Equity investors seem to be shrugging off the geopolitical tension surrounding Turkey, which is fortunate for a pipeline of Turkish IPOs, but there are risks if relations with the US worsen further, writes Sam Kerr.