The Arab Energy Fund will issue its first onshore Renminbi-denominated Panda bonds in China by 2026-end or early 2027, its Chief Financial Officer Vicky Bhatia told CNBC Arabia.

The fund received regulatory approval from China’s National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII) in January to issue up to RMB 10 billion ($1.4 billion) over two years from the date of approval, in multiple tranches.

Last week, the fund’s $500 million sukuk was listed on Nasdaq Dubai, with a 2031 maturity.

The senior unsecured issuance carries a profit rate of 4.686% and was priced at a spread of 70 basis points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), Bhatia said.

He said the fund remains open to new issuance whenever the conditions are right, in line with its funding strategy set two years ago to diversify funding sources across formats, currencies, markets and tenors.

A lot of that has been achieved, including issuing bonds in new tenors such as 3 and 10 years, and private placements in various currencies, he told the Arabic financial news channel.

(Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com)