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Initial price thoughts (IPTs) for the Kingdom of Bahrain’s Regulation S/144A benchmark-sized USD-denominated dual tranche issuances are around 6.625% for the 8-year sukuk and around 7.750% for the 12-year bond.
Bahrain, acting through the Ministry of Finance and National Economy, had mandated banks to arrange a series of virtual fixed income investor calls on Tuesday, 29 April.
The 8-year Ijara/Murabaha sukuk issuance is under the Bahrain's Trust Certificate Issuance Programme and the 12-year senior, unsecured bond is issued under Bahrain’s Global Medium Term Note Programme.
The kingdom is rated B+ (negative outlook) by both Fitch Ratings and S&P. Last week S&P downgraded Bahrain's outlook to "negative" from "stable" citing ongoing market volatility and weaker financing conditions that could increase the government's interest burden.
Citi, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan and National Bank of Bahrain have been picked as joint global coordinators. Bank ABC, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, KFH Capital and KIB Invest are mandated as joint bookrunners on the sukuk tranche. Together with the global coordinators, Bank ABC and Emirates NBD Capital are mandated as joint bookrunners on the bond tranche.
The proceeds of the issuances will be utilised for general budgetary purposes. The sukuk and bonds, which will be listed on the London Stock Exchange, are expected to be rated B+ by Fitch and S&P.
(Writing by Brinda Darasha; editing by Seban Scaria)
