Abu Dhabi-based First Gulf Bank has hired a group of lenders to arrange a bond issue expected to be at least $500m in size.

The UK’s HSBC and Standard Chartered, the US’ Citigroup, Germany’s Deutsche Bank, and National Bank of Abu Dhabi have all been appointed to work on the bond, and are also working on a $800m loan deal that First Gulf Bank is simultaneously trying to raise.

The loan has a tenor of three years and is priced at 130 basis points above the dollar benchmark rate. In January, the bank raised $500m through a five year sukuk (Islamic bond) that was priced at 287.5 basis points above the mid-swap rate.