Bahrain Taps Bond Market for First Time Since $10 Billion Bailout Package
Bahrain Taps Bond Market for First Time Since $10 Billion Bailout Package
(Bloomberg) -- Bahrain sold $2 billion of bonds in a two-part deal about a year after it secured a bailout package from its wealthier neighbors.
The island kingdom sold dollar-denominated Sharia-compliant securities due 2027 and a conventional bond maturing in 2031, according to a person familiar with the matter, who isn’t authorized to speak publicly and asked not to be identified.
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The issuance comes amid a sudden surge in debt sales by frontier and emerging sovereigns after the cost of borrowing declined. On Monday, Abu Dhabi raised $10 billion and South Africa finalized its biggest-ever debt deal.
Bahrain’s debt sale is the first since Gulf Arab allies pledged $10 billion in aid in October to help stabilize the nation’s fragile finances. It delayed an offering earlier this year.
BNP Paribas SA, Citigroup Inc., Gulf International Bank BSC, JPMorgan Chase & Co., National Bank of Bahrain BSC and Standard Chartered Plc managed the offering.
Bahrain is rated B+ by S&P Global Ratings, four notches below investment grade.
--With assistance from Netty Ismail, Arif Sharif and Carolina Wilson.
To contact the reporters on this story: Archana Narayanan in Dubai at anarayanan16@bloomberg.net;Dana El Baltaji in Dubai at delbaltaji@bloomberg.net;Sydney Maki in New York at smaki8@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Justin Carrigan at jcarrigan@bloomberg.net, Constantine Courcoulas, Claudia Maedler
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