Abu Dhabi to raise $3bln with April bonds re-opening

BNP Paribas, First Abu Dhabi Bank, JPMorgan and Standard Chartered have been hired to arrange the deal

DUBAI- Abu Dhabi sold $3 billion in bonds on Tuesday with a tap of dollar bonds issued last month, a document showed, as governments in the Gulf seek extra cash amid the coronavirus pandemic and a slump in oil prices.

Oil-rich Abu Dhabi issued in April $7 billion in bonds due in 2025, 2030 and 2050, just after a jumbo $10 billion bond sale by Qatar.

Considered among the best credits in the region, Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, received around $45 billion in orders for the April deal.

It has now gone back to the markets with a bond tap, where an existing transaction is reopened for subscription using the same documentation as before. It is set to raise $3 billion more, according to a document issued by one of the banks leading the deal and seen by Reuters.

The deal has attracted around $20 billion in orders.

The emirate sold $1 billion in each tranche. It is offering 135 basis points over U.S. Treasuries for the bonds due in 2025, 150 bps over the same benchmark for the tranche due in 2030, and 3.25% for the notes due in 2050, according to the document.

It tightened the spreads by 30 to 35 bps from where it began marketing them earlier on Tuesday.

"As expected, the pricing is in line with the earlier tranche," a Dubai-based fixed income strategist said.

"The interesting point to note is there is no skew in demand towards the 30-year bonds, unlike in April, when investors clearly preferred the long end. We believe high dollar price might one of the reasons for this," he said.

The proceeds of the sale will be used for "general budgetary purposes," a separate bank document showed.

A spokesman at Abu Dhabi's department of finance did not respond to a request for comment.

BNP Paribas, First Abu Dhabi Bank, JPMorgan and Standard Chartered were hired to arrange the deal.

Zawya