Middle East

Etihad Airways and five other airlines in which it owns stakes, printed an innovative $500m structured bond on Wednesday and bumped it up to $700m a day later on the back of a late reverse enquiry.

Etihad Airways has tapped the $500m structured bond it sold on Wednesday for a further $200m. Despite this, the bonds have staying buoyant at around 101.25 bid.

Garanti Bankasi has signed a $150m three year loan, only the second three-year deal in Turkey since 2006 after Akbank’s deal in July.

A measure of calm is returning to energy commodity markets after a series of wild weeks, but implied volatility measures remain heightened across the sector.

Persian Gulf equity markets have so far failed to win a boost from last year’s inclusion of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar into the world’s main emerging market index, as well as the more recent opening up of the Saudi Exchange to foreign investors, market participants have said.

Etihad Airways printed its innovative $500m structured bond on Wednesday. It pulled in pricing from guidance but opted for the lower end of the $500m-$750m size range the company was targeting.

Turkey's Vakifbank and Isbank have secured the same 75bp all-in costs as Akbank's recent deal for their annual trade finance loans.

In an unexpected move, Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) pulled out of Albaraka Türk’s latest $450m murabaha loan because it did not think the loan was Shariah compliant, according to two bankers on the deal.

Turkish participation bank Albaraka Türk has signed a $450m-equivalent one year loan, which it increased from the $400m launch size.

Etihad Airways, in search of a platform from which to fund itself and its subsidiaries, has turned to the bond market’s financial laboratory and come up with a unique structure that has emerging market investors doing some serious credit work.

A flood of banks in the Middle East are set to follow the two Abu Dhabi names which are making a dash for cash in the loans market to meet new regulations as they grapple with low oil prices, writes Elly Whittaker.

Debt bankers close to Etihad Airways’ structured bond deal are expecting investors to ask for a 50bp premium on top of the fair value yield, while interested fund managers have started price analysis in earnest.