Kuwait seeks bank proposals for sovereign bond

30 November 2016

The state has asked financial institutions for RFPs for its debut international offering

The oil-rich state of Kuwait has asked banks to submit proposals to help it raise funds through potential debut international sovereign bond, according to sources.

Kuwait is the latest among six-member economic GCC bloc to weigh plans for a sovereign bond. It is expected to raise the debt in 2017, most likely tapping the US dollar market, according to the news agency Reuters.

The country’s Finance Minister Anas al-Saleh in July had said that the government planned to sell as much as $10bn in conventional and Islamic bonds in international markets to help plug Kuwait’s budget deficit for the current fiscal year, which will end on 31 March. Kuwait is rated Aa2 negative/AA stable/AA stable.

Saudi Arabia was the last to tap the fixed income market with its debut sovereigns offering. The kingdom, the biggest oil exporter in the world, managed to raise record breaking $17.5bn through a triple-tranche offering in October.

Oman, which is not a member of oil cartel Opec, also returned to the band market after a 20-year absence while Qatar, the world’s biggest LNG exporter and Abu Dhabi’s, which controls about 6 per cent of the world’s proven oil reserves, also raised $9bn and $5bn respectively in bonds this year.

It will be the first bond transaction for state of Kuwait, however a number of financial institutions and banks from the country have outstanding US-dollar bonds, according to the report.

Investment Holding firm Kipco, sold $500m 2023 bond at a yield of 5 per cent in March this year, while Burgan Bank, raised funds through first ever senior US dollar deal from a Kuwaiti bank in September. Burgan, Boubyan Bank and National Bank of Kuwait also have outstanding subordinated bonds.

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