Middle East

Turk Eximbank became the third Turkish borrower to tap the dollar market in less than a week on Tuesday, raising $500m of seven year funding.

The CEEMEA bond market exploded into life this week in what will be one of the busiest of the year. Saudi Arabia is leading the action with its much-anticipated bond but Turkey made an impressive comeback with four of its banks in the market following Friday’s sovereign trade. Further supply from Poland, Russia, the Middle East and Africa is adding plenty of diversity for investors.

Primary bond markets were awash with Turkish bank deals on Tuesday as Turk Eximbank, Sekerbank and Kuveyt Turk added to Isbank’s Monday mandate. With books slow to build and Turkey recently losing its investment grade status, lead managers believe new issue premiums will need to offer a reason to invest.

Equate Petrochemical Company, a US and Kuwaiti joint venture, has picked banks for its debut bond issue and, despite heavy supply from Middle East borrowers, bankers have no doubt demand for the deal will be strong.

As Middle Eastern countries reconfigure to lower oil prices, their funding needs could reach $560bn between 2015-2019, said S&P Global Ratings in a report on Monday.

Ahli United Bank Kuwait has opened books on a perpetual dollar sukuk after wrapping up investor meetings on Monday, books were oversubscribed and were due to close on Tuesday, according to leads.

Turkey shrugged of its second downgrade to junk on Friday to print a $1.5bn reopening of its 2026s. And if a sovereign bond was not proof enough that it is capital markets business as usual for the country, state-owned Turkiye Is Bankasi AS (Isbank) was out with a long five year on Monday morning.

Jordan has mandates two international banks for its second bond to come without a USAID guarantee as the sovereign places its first local currency sukuk.

Japanese technology giant SoftBank and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia have agreed to set up a UK-based technology fund for up to $100bn and have employed former bankers from Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs to help with the project.

Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) named on Monday the 22 banks which participated in its $1.5bn loan signed in September, a deal which the borrower described as the largest corporate loan in the country's history.

Investor meetings for Saudi Arabia’s three tranche debut began in earnest this week, but with a rumoured $60bn to issue over three years, and rising concerns about the implementation of the country's 2030 plan, some dedicated EM funds are already preparing to sit out the imminent first megabond, writes Virginia Furness.

Ojer Telekomunikasyon (Otas), the majority owner of Turk Telekom, failed to make a $290m payment on a $4.75bn loan which was signed in September 2013, according to a news report on Wednesday. But two bankers were quick to say that Otas's fate was not indicative of all Turkish borrowers.