Published: November 30, 2011
First issuance by the sovereign in two years could kick-start market.
Qatar has raised US$5bn through issuing a three-tranche dollar sovereign bond to fund infrastructure projects.
The state sold US$2bn in five-year bonds at 3.184%, US$2bn in 10-year bonds on a yield of 4.63% and US$1bn of 30-year bonds yielding 5.825%.
This is the first international issuance by the sovereign since it raised US$7bn in November 2009 and the first new bond in the country this year.
In September, Henrik Raber, Standard Chartered’s global head of debt capital markets, told EMEA Finance that investors were ready for an issuance due to the lack of fresh deals in Qatar this year creating a “fair deal of pent up demand”.
Demand for the bond was high. Reports claim the orderbook totalled US$9bn. Standard Chartered worked on the deal alongside Citi, HSBC, JP Morgan, Mitsubishi UFJ and QNB Capital.
This could be the first of several issuances from the country due to local banks initiating euro medium term note (EMTN) programmes this year.
Among these lenders is Commercial Bank of Qatar, which finalised a US$5bn programme with BNP Paribas, HSBC and Morgan Stanley during the summer.
Qatar National Bank also plans to tap the debt markets by establishing a programme worth US$7.5bn and Doha Bank is believed to be working on a US$5mn bond for the first quarter of 2012.