Monday 21 / July / 2025
Muscat: New issues for the remainder of 2017 are set to remain high, with estimates in excess of $20 billion, as a result of favourable market conditions, according to Fisch Asset Management.
An encouraging landscape for new bond issuances in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will likely see a US dollar sovereign deal between Saudi and Bahrain, while Oman is anticipated to confirm new issues, depending on the size of deficits. United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait are very well positioned to take advantage of current conditions—resulting in new issues, provided there is a pull factor from investors.
“The new issues season kicked off again on August 28 with road shows and with the September 4 U.S. holiday. Very important to this season are some pre-funding of maturities of 2018 bonds, including Mubadala (IPIC 2018 bond), Taqa, Aldar and Sabic. All those companies and more can benefit from great market conditions by pre-funding those maturities early. Further, there will be some Government related entities that will conduct some new issues—primarily debut issues. Those are characterised by investment grade ratings, which can benefit from cheap funding and extend their duration in the bond market,” said Philipp Good, chief executive officer of Fisch Asset Management.
Saudi banks will be patient since they have larger deposits domestically. Sovereign has established the curve in the Kingdom, but experience has shown that the banks do not move fast. Further, Saudi Telecom could be a well-received corporate entity tapping the market this year.
There are many contributing factors to the success of the fourth quarter of 2017, including synchronised global growth and a low interest environment that is beneficial for emerging markets and political stability.
