MANAMA: The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp), a multilateral development bank in which Bahrain owns three per cent, has announced the issuance of a benchmark $750 million dollar-denominated five-year bond.
The latest issuance is part of a $3 billion Global Medium-Term Note (GMTN) programme and will bolster business operations, it said.
This also includes undertaking a countercyclical role in 2020 aimed at supporting the Mena energy sector in mitigating the impact of Covid-19 as well as oil price fluctuations.
The issuance attracted robust and diverse investor demand, with more than $1.1bn in orders for the debt sale from over 40 investors of various types from within and outside the region.
The five-year note’s fixed cost of funding (1.46pc) is the lowest in the history of Apicorp.
Moreover, the spread of 110bps is the lowest in the region compared to the sovereign, semi-sovereign and MDB peers’ US dollar issuances that came to the market since the Covid-19 outbreak.
The bank’s chief executive Dr Ahmed Ali Attiga commented: “Despite challenging market conditions, the successful issuance of this benchmark US dollar bond, with this level of competitive pricing, reflects the confidence that global investors have in Apicorp.”
Citi, Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered acted as global co-ordinators on the deal and were joined by Emirates NBD Capital as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners.
Fitch assigned Apicorp an AA credit rating with a stable outlook on Tuesday.
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