Kuwait Kipco Raises $500 Million in 10-Year Bond Sale - BusinessWeek

Kuwait Projects Co. said it raised $500 million by selling 10-years bonds to gain access to long- term funds in the first global issue by a private company in the Middle East and North Africa this year.

The bonds received $1.8 billion in bids and were priced at 644.2 basis points over the U.S. dollar mid-swap rate and 647.3 basis points over similar-maturity U.S. Treasuries, Kuwait’s biggest privately-owned investment company known as Kipco said in an e-mailed statement today. The bonds were sold under Kipco’s $2 billion euro medium term note program and carry a fixed-rate coupon of 9.375 percent, it said.

The sale is “the first international bond issue by a private sector corporate from the Middle East and North Africa region in 2010, as well as the first US dollar denominated offering from a Kuwaiti institution since 2009,” Kipco said. The money will be “used to extend the company’s maturity profile and further diversify KIPCO’s investor base,” it said.