UAE’s debut bond sale draws over $20b in orders

Dubai - The bond sale, the first in the UAE’s 50-year history, is expected to raise between $3 billion and $3.5 billion from sale and comprises three tranches denominated in dollars

Issac John

Published: Wed 6 Oct 2021, 7:21 PM

The UAE federal government tightened the price guidance for its debut bonds, which are expected to close later on Wednesday, after drawing more than $20 billion in orders.

The bond sale, the first in the UAE’s 50-year history, is expected to raise between $3 billion and $3.5 billion from sale and comprises three tranches denominated in dollars.

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The bonds were tightened to offer around 80 basis points (bps) over US Treasuries (UST) for a 10-year portion, about 110 bps over UST for a 20-year tranche and around 3.3 per cent for 40-year Formosa bonds, according to the documents from banks on the deal.

Demand was skewed to the 10-year tranche.

Initial guidance was about 105 bps over UST for the 10-year paper, around 135 bps over the same benchmark for the 20-year bonds and about 3.6 per cent for the 40-year notes.

The 40-year portion of the bond is Formosa bonds, which are debt securities sold in Taiwan by foreign borrowers and denominated in currencies other than the Taiwanese dollar.

The proceeds from the sale will be used for “domestic budgetary purposes in compliance with the Public Debt Strategy”, an offering circular seen by Reuters showed.

The UAE cabinet in January approved a public debt strategy aimed at developing the domestic market for local currency bonds and officials have said last year an issuance was imminent. In 2018, a Public Debt Law allowing the issuance of federal bonds was passed.

The goal of the strategy is to build a market for federal government debt securities denominated in UAE dirhams, and to “revitalise the financial and banking sector in the country.”

— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com