Saudi Arabia is set to raise $11 billion with a triple-tranche dollar bond, while Qatar is meeting global investors ahead of its first appearance in the debt markets since the beginning of a diplomatic crisis last year.
The Saudi deal is Riyadh’s fourth international public bond sale.
The kingdom has established itself as one of the top global debt issuers after it began selling international sovereign bonds in 2016 with a $17.5bn debut sale, the largest bond issued across emerging markets.
The proceeds from the bonds are being used to help fill a budget deficit caused by low oil prices.
Saudi Arabia, acting through the ministry of finance, surprised the market earlier on Tuesday when it announced its plan to complete the transaction within the day and without a bond roadshow.
According to several fund managers and bankers, the timing of the Saudi deal could complicate Qatar’s planned bond.
“Issuing now, Qatar will get a lower order book, which will put them in a less competitive place to issue from,” which means Qatar may have to offer generous pricing to attract large demand, said a fund manager.
Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, has been locked in a diplomatic dispute with Qatar since June last year, with the former countries accusing Qatar of funding terrorism, an assertion Doha denies.
“Tensions obviously remain between the two states, and I guess there will be some competition herein about pricing and size of any deal,” said Timothy Ash, senior emerging markets sovereign strategist at BlueBay Asset Management.
Saudi Arabia has marketed seven-year, 12-year and 31-year notes. It set the size of the seven-year notes at $4.5bn, and the spreads at 140 basis points over US Treasuries. The size of its planned 12-year notes has been set at $3bn, with spreads at 175 basis points over US Treasuries, while it plans to raise $3.5bn in 31-year notes at 210 basis points over the UST benchmark, a document from one of the banks leading the deal showed.
Combined order books for the debt issue went up to more than $50billion earlier on Tuesday.
Initial price guidance for the seven-year notes was in the 170 basis points area over US Treasuries, for the 12-year notes in the 200 bps area over UST and in the 235 bps area over UST for the 31-year paper.
The initial guidance was generous, fund managers said.
Mohieddine Kronfol, chief investment officer of Global Sukuk and Mena fixed income at Franklin Templeton Investments, said it was 30 to 40 basis points wide of the current yield curve, with the longest leg on offer looking more attractive, followed by the seven-year notes and the 12-year notes.
Citi, GIB Capital, Goldman Sachs International, HSBC and Morgan Stanley have been appointed as global co-ordinators for the issue. Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group are working as joint lead managers.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
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MATCH INFO
Liverpool v Manchester City, Sunday, 8.30pm UAE
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
US tops drug cost charts
The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.
Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.
In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.
Some of the costliest drugs worldwide include Lipitor for high cholesterol.
The study’s price index placed the US at an exorbitant 2,170 per cent higher for Lipitor than the average global price and the UAE at the eighth spot globally with costs 252 per cent higher.
High blood pressure medication Zestril was also more than 2,680 per cent higher in the US and the UAE price was 187 per cent higher than the global price.
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
'My Son'
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis
Rating: 2/5
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Formula One top 10 drivers' standings after Japan
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 306
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 247
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes 234
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull 192
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 148
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull 111
7. Sergio Perez, Force India 82
8. Esteban Ocon, Force India 65
9. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso 48
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault 34
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
