Qatar Said to Hire Citigroup, HSBC, JPMorgan, QNB for Possible Bond Sale
Qatar, the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, hired six banks to arrange meetings with investors in the U.S. and Europe for a possible bond sale, according to two bankers familiar with the plan.
Citigroup Inc. (C), HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Mitsubishi UFJ (8306) Securities, QNB Capital and Standard Chartered Plc (STAN) will manage the offering, the bankers said, declining to be identified, because the information is private. The meetings will be held from Nov. 25 to Nov. 28, the bankers said.
The country will join other issuers from the Gulf Arab region that have sold bonds this month. Bahrain raised $750 million from an offering of Islamic bonds on Nov. 16, while Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC (ADIB), a Shariah-compliant lender in the United Arab Emirates, sold $500 million of sukuk today. Qatar is rated Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA by Standard & Poor’s, the third-best investment grade rankings.
“Over the last decade Qatar has experienced exceptional growth and economic and political stability which has attracted global investors,” said Hakim Azaiez, London-based head of Middle East and North Africa capital markets at Dinosaur Securities. “A new Qatar sovereign bond issue will tick most of the boxes that investors are looking for. We do expect big demand from regional investors as well as international ones.”
Qatar’s $81 billion economy will expand 19 percent this year, making it the fastest growing economy in the world for a second straight year, the International Monetary Fund said in a report in October. The government forecasts a budget surplus of 22.3 billion riyals ($6.1 billion) this year.
To contact the reporters on this story: Arif Sharif in Dubai at asharif2@bloomberg.net; Alaa Shahine in Dubai at asalha@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at cmaedler@bloomberg.net
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