Middle East

In this year’s round of Turkish bank loan refinancings, dollar commitments will receive a higher margin than those in euros, in a rare move to encourage more lending in the currency,

Bahrain increased the size of its bond tap on Tuesday from $500m to $750m. While bankers away from the trade said while it came cheap for a tap, it was not surprising given the challenges the country faces.

Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) is raising a murabaha loan which was launched at $200m but will grow far beyond that size, according to a banker on the deal.

Kuwait National Petroleum Company is in talks for $10bn of loans which have been in the pipeline for almost a year, although syndication has not taken off yet.

Bahrain reopened its 2021s and 2026s with close to a 50bp concession on Tuesday — evidence of the fact that wider spreads in the Gulf bond market are here to stay.

The syndicate for Akbank’s bellwether one year loan refinancing could change as geopolitical and liquidity concerns affect banks’ appetite for the tightly priced Turkish loan.

Hopes of primary issuance from CEEMEA receded again on Thursday as regional borrowers were caught up in the global market turmoil.

The recent new issues from Turk Eximbank and Kuveyt Turk are both trading well, leading to hopes that further bonds from the country may follow.

Oman Telecoms (Omantel) is withdrawing a $130m dual currency sukuk it issued on January 27, two sources have told GlobalCapital.

Sharjah Islamic Bank is close to launching a $200m murabaha loan, according to bankers.

Kuveyt Turk, an Islamic Turkish bank, survived a rough market on Monday to print a $350m Basel III compliant tier two sukuk. Even the leads were surprised by how well the deal went, although their own orders and the high yield on offer helped.

Kuveyt Turk has released initial price thoughts for the third Basel III compliant tier two bond to come out of Turkey.