Banking & Finance Bank of Sharjah set to raise $500m with five-year bonds By Reuters March 9, 2023 Bank of Sharjah Bamk of Sharjah sold the bonds at 310 basis points over US Treasuries Bank of Sharjah is set to raise $500 million from a sale of senior unsecured five-year bonds, a bank document showed. The bonds were sold at 310 basis points (bps) over US Treasuries (UST) after initial guidance in the area of low 300 bps over UST, the document showed. Demand was more than $1 billion excluding interest from joint lead managers. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Bank ABC, Credit Agricole, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, JPMorgan and Mashreq are joint lead managers and bookrunners for the debt sale. Last month a debt sale document showed that the government of Sharjah was planning to raise $1 billion from a sale of nine-year debut sustainable bonds. “This is the first sustainable sovereign bond in the GCC, which indicates that the proceeds will be used for environmental or social purposes,” said Justin Alexander, director of Khalij Economics and Gulf analyst for GlobalSource Partners. “This is broader than the ‘green bonds’ which several Gulf states including Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have been considering,” he added. Sharjah, the UAE’s third most-populous city, needs about $4.7 billion in financing this year for a $2.3 billion budgeted deficit and $2.4 billion in maturing bank loans, Alexander wrote in a research note.
