PHOTO
Gulf International Bank – Saudi Arabia (GIB KSA), rated A2 (stable) by Moody’s and A- (stable) by Fitch, has priced its debut $500 million Reg S only perpetual non-call 5.5-year AT1 bond at par with a 6.625% coupon.
The reset margin has been set at 282.5 basis points, with a 6.625% yield.
Initial price thoughts for the benchmark bond were in the 6.875% area.
Orderbooks were in excess of $1.1 billion.
Citi and GIB Capital were mandated as joint global coordinators, along with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, BofA Securities, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Mashreq, SMBC and Standard Chartered Bank as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners.
The inaugural benchmark fixed-rate resettable AT1 capital issuance under GIB KSA’s $1.5 billion Additional Tier 1 Capital Note Programme.
The AT1 bond is listed on the London Stock Exchange Main Market.
GIB KSA is owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF).
This week has witnessed a flurry of activity from GCC banks mandating debt, with Saudi Arabia’s Alinma Bank issuing a $500 million Tier 2 USD sukuk at 5.792%, along with the UAE’s Sharjah Islamic Bank, which issued a $500 million sukuk at 4.60%. The National Bank of Kuwait also issued a no-grow $300 million Tier 2 subordinated bond on Wednesday with a 5.25% coupon.
(Writing by Bindu Rai, editing by Daniel Luiz)
