Middle East

National Bank of Abu Dhabi has mandated six banks for investor meetings starting February 8.

Türk Eximbank issued a $500m five year bond on Monday, commanding a $1.09bn book and bringing hope to syndicate officials that more deals from the country may follow.

Citi UAE has brought in Elissar Farah Antonios as its new chief executive officer.

Turk Eximbank (Turkiye Ihracat Kredi Bankasi) has released initial price thoughts for the first Turkish bond of the year at 425bp area over mid-swaps.

A rally this week in crude oil has reduced short-term pressures, but exploration and production firms still face existential threats as liquidity and M&A odds worsen, said analysts.

The Turkish loan market is open for business in 2016 as Turk Eximbank and Akbank launch loan refinancings.

A juicy Middle Eastern project finance loan — for Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) — will be signed by end of next week, according to a banker close to the deal.

The RMB is now the most active currency used by the United Arab Emirates and Qatar for direct payments with China and Hong Kong, the latest data from the Swift shows. This is despite global expectation of a further weakening in the renminbi.

Oman Telecoms (Omantel) sold a $130m-equivalent sukuk via auction in the domestic market on Wednesday. Though the issuer could have achieved tighter pricing in the loan market, it wanted to aid the development of the sukuk market in Oman, said bankers.

Emirates Global Aluminium has still not completed syndication of its $4.9bn seven year loan facility, despite bankers saying that the deal would have closed before the end of last year.

Turkish commercial bank Akbank has launched the first of its two annual loan refinancings, leading the way for other Turkish banks to follow.

Qatar has signed its $5.5bn five year loan with 13 banks in the syndicate. The six underwriting banks are holding at least $4.2bn of the loan between them, according to a banker on the deal.