Qatar raises $12bn in first bond sale since ’16

Biggest dollar bond from an emerging-market nation this year

DOHA, Qatar, April 14, (Agencies): Qatar raised $12 billion (9 billion euros) in its first dollar bond sale in two years and it is the biggest dollar bond from an emerging-market nation this year, according to Bloomberg.

Thursday’s sale eclipsed Saudi Arabia’s $11 billion bond issued earlier this week and received more than $53 billion in bids.

It is the first time Qatar has returned to the international bond market since the emirate found itself at the centre of an entrenched regional dispute.

Qatar has been economically and politically isolated by a group of Saudi-led countries since last June over claims it supports terrorist groups.

The world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas has seen its only land border shut and its national airline, Qatar Airways, stopped from using its Gulf rivals’ airspace in the 10-month long row. World Cup 2022 host Qatar denies the claims.

Despite earlier concerns from some bankers and fund managers, Qatar’s debt issuance was not complicated by Saudi Arabia’s sale earlier this week of a jumbo $11 billion bond.

Some had thought the Saudi move may have absorbed demand from the market before the Qatari deal, forcing Qatar to offer higher yields to attract interest.

Philipp Good, chief executive at Fisch Asset Management, a Swiss firm managing more than $10 billion in assets, expected the Qatari debt offering to attract good demand.

“The initial price guidance of the Qatari deal is very similar to that of the Saudi deal. Comparing to on-the-run levels of the Qatari curve, the spread premium will attract decent demand,” Good said.

Qatar gave initial price guidance earlier on Thursday, with the five-year tranche marketed at around 170 basis points (bps) over US Treasuries, the 10-year at 200 bps over Treasuries and the 30-year at around 230 bps over.