Commercialbank of Qatar, the country’s third largest lender, appointed three banks and its own investment banking unit to arrange a $5bn bond programme, a prospectus showed yesterday.
The Qatari bank selected BNP Paribas, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and Commercialbank Capital to arrange the $5bn bond programme.
The euro medium term notes programme was approved by shareholders in February, paving the way for the lender to tap international debt capital markets.
A prospectus for the bank’s bond programme was published in a regulatory filing yesterday, but is dated July 7.
Aside from the arrangers, additional dealers on the programme are Barclays Capital , Citi, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Standard Chartered.
CBQ last tapped global debt markets with a five-year, 275mn Swiss franc ($290mn) denominated bond issue in November. The bond pays a coupon of 3%
The bank also issued $1.6bn in a dual-tranche bond in November 2009.
The cost of insuring Qatari debt against default rose to a four-month high yesterday to 102 basis points, on global volatility and concerns over eurozone debt, raising chances that regional borrowers will prefer to wait until global markets are stable before a bond issue.
Meanwhile, Doha Bank , Qatar’s fifth largest bank by market capitalisation, is likely to go ahead with a planned bond issuance by the first quarter of 2012, the bank’s chief executive said yesterday.
“It will be before Q1 next year, they way the trend is moving. Yesterday’s cut by the central bank will help close the gap between foreign currency and the riyal,” R Seetharaman said in a phone interview.
Qatar’s central bank on Wednesday cut key interest rates in a move aimed at spurring activity in the local banking sector and reviving private sector credit growth.
“We are not moving right now at this point, because we’ll get a competitive advantage if we wait a little longer. It’s becoming more cost-effective now, but I want to hold off a bit,” he said.
In October, Doha Bank mandated Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan to arrange for a $500mn bond issue planned for January 2011.
The bank posted a posted a 13.1% jump in second-quarter net profit on increased lending and growth in customer deposits, it said last month.
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