Mubasher: The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP) announced the pricing of a $750 million 5-year bonds, rated as “Aa3” by Moody’s on 11 September 2018 in the RegS/144a markets.
The transaction was issued under APICORP’s newly established $3 billion Global Medium-Term Note (GMTN) programme, to offer maximum flexibility in accessing capital markets and endorse its financial position, according to a recent statement.
APICORP, the multilateral development bank focused on the energy sector, is considered the first corporate to issue in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) bond and sukuk market since mid-May 2018.
“The oversubscribed orderbook, which exceeded $3.5 billion, sent a clear signal to the market on investor appetite and paved the way for other regional issuers to follow,” according the statement.
This bond issue marks a significant step for APICORP to fulfill its developmental mandate in support of the growth and transformation of the energy sector in the Arab world.
“We issued a very successful sukuk in October 2017, which was placed primarily in Asia and Europe. Now, with this latest transaction, we have successfully reinforced our strong relationship with the global investor base, and in particular the important and deep US investment community,” Ahmed Attiga, CEO of APICORP, commented.
The deal is the third benchmark issue for APICORP following a highly successful sukuk in October 2017, which was issued off another $3bn RegS sukuk programme.
The Joint Lead Managers and Bookrunners of this bond issue included Credit Agricole CIB, HSBC, JP Morgan, and Standard Chartered, while, the co-managers included Bank ABC, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and Union National Bank.
