Dubai’s biggest lender raises $313m via kangaroo bonds

WAM

Emirates NBD, Dubai’s biggest lender, has raised A$450 million ($313.29 million) through an issuance of 10-year bonds at a coupon of 6.1 percent, a document on the sale showed.

The kangaroo bonds – debt issued in Australia by foreign issuers – will yield 6.122 percent, the document seen by Reuters showed.

On Monday, Emirates NBD began marketing the bonds with an indicative yield of 6.3 percent and an indicative coupon of 6.25 percent.

ANZ, Emirates NBD Capital, JPMorgan and Nomura were lead managers for the debt sale.

The bonds were issued under Emirates NBD’s A$4 billion ($2.77 billion) Kangaroo Debt Issuance Programme. They are expected to be rated A2 by Moody’s and A+ by Fitch.  

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Dubai Islamic Bank, the biggest Islamic lender in the UAE, was set to raise $1 billion from a sale of five-year long sustainable sukuk.

Moreover, a roaring start to the year for debt issuance helped to lift sovereign emerging market bond sales to a record $44 billion peak in January with investors keen to deploy piles of cash, according to data compiled by Morgan Stanley.

So far, investment-grade-rated Saudi Arabia is the largest borrower, having sold $10 billion of dollar bonds this year.

Nearly $40 billion of debt sales came in the first half of the month, when Hong Kong, Israel and Mexico all raced to issue debt early, with Colombia and Serbia soon following suit.