Sharjah 24 – WAM: Emirates Development Bank (EDB), a key financial enabler of the country’s economic diversification and industrial transformation agenda, has succesfully closed its $750 million five-year bond issue, priced at a fixed re-offer yield of 1.639 percent per annum in the Regulation S markets.
This was the second USD transaction issued under EDB’s US$3 billion Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) programme part of the bank’s mandate to boost its accessibility to capital markets and strengthen its funding profile.
The bond issue follows EDB receiving ‘AA-’ long-term issuer credit ratings with Outlook Stable by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch. The bank’s $3bn EMTN programme has been assigned a ‘AA-’ issuer rating by Fitch. The ratings are a major endorsement of EDB’s new strategic mandate to support the UAE’s economic diversification plan.
The bond issue received a strong investor appetite, resulting in the order book reaching over US$3 billion (4 times oversubscription). EDB also announced that it hosted virtual roadshows for local, regional and international investors as part of its outreach on the transaction. The investor base was diverse with 34 percent representing the Middle East, 36 percent from the European markets, 28 percent representing the Asian markets, and 2 percent from the US offshore market.
The bank’s debut $750 million bond, issued in 2019, also received an overwhelming response (4.7 times oversubscribed) from investors.
Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Chairman of EDB, said: "The investor response to the bond’s issue is very encouraging and indicative of the strong market appetite and confidence in the bank. EDB was the first UAE federal entity to access the global capital markets under the federal debt framework when it issued its first bond in 2019.
He added: "The tremendous success of our bond issues is a testament to the access EDB enjoys in the international markets. This bond issue enhances our financing capabilities and progress towards implementing the bank’s new strategy, which aims to support the country’s economic diversification plans empowering individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises, and large corporates in priority industrial sectors, besides playing a key role in the adoption of advanced technologies to contribute towards a knowledge-based economy."
For his part, Ahmed Mohamed Al Naqbi, Chief Executive Officer of EDB, said: "The $750 million bond issue is an endorsement of EDB’s long-term prospects and reflects our strong credit profile and new strategic roadmap. This transaction helps us mobilise capital to accelerate our long-term goals of supporting the UAE’s economic diversification plans."
Emirates NBD Capital and Standard Chartered Bank acted as Global Coordinators on the transaction while Goldman Sachs International and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited acted as the Joint Lead Managers on the transaction.
EDB is a key financial enabler of the UAE’s economic diversification plan by enabling individuals, mSMEs, and corporates in priority industrial sectors while promoting innovative technologies to build a knowledge-based economy. The Bank has allocated a portfolio of AED 30 billion to support priority industrial sectors over a period of five years, which will contribute to financing more than 13,500 SMEs and creating 25,000 jobs.
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