Middle East

Kuwait Energy, the independent Kuwaiti oil and gas company, is to test investor appetite towards the recovering energy sector, having announced the launch of its long awaited IPO on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning.

The bond pipeline in CEEMEA is light with only well flagged borrowers opening books in a week that is peppered with data points and political risk events.

Orders of over $1.5bn enabled Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power to squeeze down guidance for its amortising note on Wednesday.

Fibabanka emerged with pricing on Wednesday for the first Turkish tier two bond since last month’s constitutional reform referendum.

Despite a public holiday on Monday and the second round of the French presidential election due this Sunday, the IPO market is vibrant, with two more names joining the pre-summer pipeline so far this week.

Global Ports Holding, the independent cruise port operator, has set the price range for its IPO on the London Stock Exchange.

Middle Eastern governments and companies rose to the financing challenge set by falling oil prices in 2016, rethinking their operations, cutting costs and turning to the international bond markets in committed fashion to plug funding gaps. Issuers in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries raised $66bn last year, and this year’s first quarter total of nearly $25bn suggests issuance will be similarly high in 2017.

New deals from the Middle East are beginning to flow. Saudi Arabia's International Company for Water and Power Projects (ACWA Power) opened books on a conventional amortising note on Tuesday, as Saudi Electricity Co (Seco) and Oman Electricity Transmission line up sukuk trades.

Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi said it plans to press ahead with its debut euro covered bond, and after getting regulatory approval Turkiye Is Bankasi (Isbank) has had its programme rated by Moody’s.

As many look on in horror at Turkey’s slide towards autocracy, investors are showing few qualms by piling into the country’s debt. State-owned Ziraat Bank was able to cut through political noise to print with no new issue premium this week. But lower rated banks are lining up to test just how far this demand extends down the ratings scale.

Turkiye Is Bankasi (Isbank) has had its mortgage covered bond programme signed off with the Turkish regulator and this week had the programme rated by Moody’s.

Jordan doubled the size of its January 2026s on Wednesday with a well-received $500m reopening.