الرئيسية
By Dinesh Nair, Reuters
DUBAI, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Qatar, the world's biggest natural gas
exporter, has raised $5 billion with its first sovereign bond issue in
two years, capitalising on investors' appetite for safe havens as the
European debt crisis destabilises global markets.
The
international bond sale, priced late on Tuesday, was the biggest from
the Gulf this year. The tiny Arab state sold $2 billion in five-year
bonds at a yield of 3.184 percent, $2 billion of 10-year bonds with a
yield of 4.63 percent, and $1 billion of 30-year bonds yielding 5.825
percent.
"This is a very big deal. There are very few credits in
the world today who can come in and raise $5 billion under such choppy
market conditions," said Abdul Kadir Hussain, Chief Executive of Mashreq
Capital in Dubai.
"They did pay for it but for issues of this size you have to pay up."
The
sale attracted investor orders in excess of $9 billion, according to
Hussain. Another source in the fixed income markets said the order book
was $9.5 billion.
Although Qatar has not publicly announced how
it will use the bond proceeds, the country will host the 2022 World Cup
and has allocated 40 percent of its budget between now and 2016 to
infrastructure projects.
"It's all about diversifying your
financing options," said Shehzad Janab, head of asset management at
Dubai-based Daman Investments.
"If you keep going back to your
local banks, you are effectively tapping your own sources of capital.
Access to international capital is key and obviously, the bond route is
the preferred choice now." The international market in syndicated loans
has frozen up in recent months as Western banks' balance sheets have
been hit by the European crisis.
One Doha-based banker, who
declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak publicly,
said the bond proceeds were expected to help finance the $10.3 billion
Barzan gas project, which will supply gas to Qatar's domestic market. It
is Qatar's most expensive project since Royal Dutch Shell launched the
$19 billion Pearl gas-to-liquids plant in 2006.
GULF APPETITE
Qatar's
last global bond deal was a three-tranche, $7 billion issue in November
2009. Demand for debt issues from the energy-rich Gulf region has
remained strong this year, as financial instability dents investors'
appetite for bonds from Europe and many emerging markets.
Last
month, Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Co issued a
three-tranche, $3.75 billion bond which was significantly
oversubscribed.
Bahrain, hit by political protests earlier this
year, succeeded in issuing a $750 million, seven-year Islamic bond this
month, offering a yield of 6.273 percent.
Qatar, which along with
Abu Dhabi is highly rated by credit rating agencies at AA, has largely
avoided the political upheaval that has swept the Middle East this year.
Analysts
polled by Reuters in September forecast Qatar's economy would grow 18.9
percent in 2011, slowing to 7.7 percent in 2012 -- still an extremely
fast rate by global standards -- as the country's decades-long gas
expansion programme wound down.
DUBAI, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Qatar, the world's biggest natural gas
exporter, has raised $5 billion with its first sovereign bond issue in
two years, capitalising on investors' appetite for safe havens as the
European debt crisis destabilises global markets.
The
international bond sale, priced late on Tuesday, was the biggest from
the Gulf this year. The tiny Arab state sold $2 billion in five-year
bonds at a yield of 3.184 percent, $2 billion of 10-year bonds with a
yield of 4.63 percent, and $1 billion of 30-year bonds yielding 5.825
percent.
"This is a very big deal. There are very few credits in
the world today who can come in and raise $5 billion under such choppy
market conditions," said Abdul Kadir Hussain, Chief Executive of Mashreq
Capital in Dubai.
"They did pay for it but for issues of this size you have to pay up."
The
sale attracted investor orders in excess of $9 billion, according to
Hussain. Another source in the fixed income markets said the order book
was $9.5 billion.
Although Qatar has not publicly announced how
it will use the bond proceeds, the country will host the 2022 World Cup
and has allocated 40 percent of its budget between now and 2016 to
infrastructure projects.
"It's all about diversifying your
financing options," said Shehzad Janab, head of asset management at
Dubai-based Daman Investments.
"If you keep going back to your
local banks, you are effectively tapping your own sources of capital.
Access to international capital is key and obviously, the bond route is
the preferred choice now." The international market in syndicated loans
has frozen up in recent months as Western banks' balance sheets have
been hit by the European crisis.
One Doha-based banker, who
declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak publicly,
said the bond proceeds were expected to help finance the $10.3 billion
Barzan gas project, which will supply gas to Qatar's domestic market. It
is Qatar's most expensive project since Royal Dutch Shell launched the
$19 billion Pearl gas-to-liquids plant in 2006.
GULF APPETITE
Qatar's
last global bond deal was a three-tranche, $7 billion issue in November
2009. Demand for debt issues from the energy-rich Gulf region has
remained strong this year, as financial instability dents investors'
appetite for bonds from Europe and many emerging markets.
Last
month, Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Co issued a
three-tranche, $3.75 billion bond which was significantly
oversubscribed.
Bahrain, hit by political protests earlier this
year, succeeded in issuing a $750 million, seven-year Islamic bond this
month, offering a yield of 6.273 percent.
Qatar, which along with
Abu Dhabi is highly rated by credit rating agencies at AA, has largely
avoided the political upheaval that has swept the Middle East this year.
Analysts
polled by Reuters in September forecast Qatar's economy would grow 18.9
percent in 2011, slowing to 7.7 percent in 2012 -- still an extremely
fast rate by global standards -- as the country's decades-long gas
expansion programme wound down.