Saturday, Jun 18, 2011
(This item was originally published Thursday.)
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Dubai's $500 million bond issued Wednesday attracted orders worth more than $1.8 billion and shows the confidence that investors now have in the emirate's economic fundamentals, the city state's Department of Finance said Thursday.
The ten-year bond, with a put option at the end of 5 years, will yield 5.59%, the department of finance said in an emailed statement. The pricing of the current issue is lower than a similar U.S. dollar 5 year bond issued last year which was priced at 6.7%.
"We are very pleased at the positive market reception to the bond offering, which demonstrates increased investor confidence in the strong long-term value proposition of the emirate of Dubai," said Abdulrahman Al Saleh, director general at the Department of Finance.
"Investors are obviously supportive of the steps taken by the government over the last 2 years to counter the impact of financial crisis, and satisfied with the prudent measures implemented control costs and manage the budget deficit," he added.
UBS, Royal bank of Scotland, Emirates NBD, HSBC and National Bank of Abu Dhabi were the joint lead managers for the issue.
The government of Dubai earlier this week, in its base prospectus, said it increased the size of its EMTN program to $5 billion, from $4 billion previously, as the debt-laden state looks to raise more cash to bridge its budget deficit and finance growth
Several companies in the U.A.E. have, or are in the process of, tapping the bond market. A senior Deutsche Bank executive said Tuesday the wider Middle East and North Africa primary bond market may reach or exceed last year's value of $40 billion on the back of improved pricing and increased borrowing requirements.
-By Mirna Sleiman, Dow Jones Newswires; +9714 446-1698; mirna.sleiman@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
18-06-11 0725GMT
