Middle East
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Bahrain has raised $600m with a re-opening of its 2028s, pulling in a $2.6bn book that bodes well for the slew of Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) sovereigns set to charge into the international bond markets this year. -
This week has seen the reopening of sovereign bonds from the Gulf region and Turkish bank debt, with Bahrain and Yapi Kredi both printing successful trades on Tuesday.
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Israeli energy company Delek Group has mandated two banks to lead the syndication of a $1.75bn loan which will back its drilling operations in the recently discovered Leviathan natural gas basin in the Mediterranean.
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Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi is the first of the Turkish banks to follow a successful sovereign tap last week, and with Turkish bank debt well bid in secondaries, it will be expecting a better result than its last senior trade.
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Bahrain became on Tuesday the first of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) sovereigns to raise international debt in 2017, and will be hoping to make the most of its early mover advantage ahead of a wall of regional supply to match last year's.
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Last year was a record in terms of number of downgrades of emerging market sovereigns, with another four added this year — Turkey, Mozambique, El Salvador and Costa Rica. But Société Générale on Friday became the latest firm to criticise the ratings agencies for their pessimism.
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Turkey made an opportunistic move on Thursday to reopen its recent 10 year bond for another $1bn. The $4.7bn book size showed there is no let-up in demand for Turkish sovereign debt.
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With four big loan deals already in the market for Omani borrowers this year and more expected, bankers are concerned that lenders could fast run up against country limits. With a big hole to plug in Oman's budget, spillover to the bond market looks inevitable, writes Bianca Boorer.
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Plenty of demand enabled Equate Petrochemical to aggressively revise pricing to print a restrained $500m sukuk on Monday from a book that reached $4.2bn before it was reconciled. Kipco followed on Thursday with an equally strong deal.
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Oman’s sovereign wealth fund is in the market for a $600m loan to support its acquisition of a stake in Oman Telecommunications, and is tapping Asian liquidity for the first time. With several Gulf nations making efforts to contain budget deficits, including by selling assets, borrowers from the region could be ones to watch. Shruti Chaturvedi reports.
