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Abu Dhabi’s dual-tranche bond issuance drew high investor confidence, resulting in tight spreads with the five-year tenor locking in a 3.75% coupon at a reoffer price of 99.824% and a spread of plus 20bps over US Treasuries from IPTs in the +50bps area.
Yield on the shorter tenor was set at 3.789%.
The 10-year issuance drew a coupon of 4.25% at a reoffer price of 99.814%, with the spread tightened to +25bps from IPTs in the +55bps area. The yield on the bond was set at 4.73%.
The combined orderbook peaked in excess of $11 billion before settling at $4.3 billion at launch for the shorter tenor and at $5.6 billion for the 10-year bond, all excluding JLM interest.
JP Morgan was named the billing and delivery bank on the five-year bond, with Standard Chartered Bank handling the 10-year debt.
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Bank of China, BofA Securities, BNP PARIBAS, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Goldman Sachs International, HSBC, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, JP Morgan, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered Bank were the joint lead managers and joint bookrunners on the issuance.
BNP PARIBAS, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Goldman Sachs International, JP Morgan and Standard Chartered Bank were the joint global coordinators.
The dual tranche has an expected rating of AA by S&P and Fitch, in line with Abu Dhabi’s own sovereign rating.
The benchmark-sized senior unsecured Regulation S Category 1 bonds will list on the London Stock Exchange and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and will come under the sovereign’s Global Medium Term Note Programme.
Abu Dhabi is the latest GCC sovereign to issue debt in 2026, with Saudi Arabia starting off the year’s proceedings with its $11.5 billion debt sale in January.
The emirate last issued debt in September, raising $3 billion across two maturity periods, including a three-year $1 billion tranche at 3.625%, and a 10-year $2 billion tranche at 4.25%.
(Writing by Bindu Rai, editing by Seban Scaria)
