Bahrain’s NOGA sells $600mln in 8-year Islamic bonds
DUBAI – Bahrain’s National Oil and Gas Holding Company (NOGA Holding) launched eight-year sukuk, or Islamic bonds, on Wednesday to raise $600 million at 5.25%, a document from one of the banks on the deal showed.
NOGA, wholly owned by the Bahraini government, had given initial price guidance of 5.75%-5.875% for the sukuk.
Earlier in the day, the company was expected to issue $500 million but upped the size and brought the pricing down after receiving more than $2.9 billion in demand.
A source close to the deal said launching 50-62.5 bps tighter than initial guidance “is unheard of in current markets” and that other emerging markets deals generally move around 25 bps.
Gulf International Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan and BNP Paribas arranged the deal.
(Reporting by Yousef Saba, editing by Louise Heavens and Steve Orlofsky)
