Qatari banks raise over $1 billion in privately placed bonds – sources | Reuters

Qatari banks raise over $1 billion in privately placed bonds – sources | Reuters:

Qatar National Bank, the largest bank by assets in the Middle East and Africa, and Qatar Islamic Bank, the Gulf state’s largest sharia-compliant lender by assets, have raised a combined $1.3 billion in privately placed bonds, sources familiar with the matter said.

Private placements allow debt issuers to diversify their funding base by tapping different sources of cash than that provided by traditional bond investors. Private placements can also be executed quickly as they require less paperwork than public debt issues.

QNB raised $1 billion at the end of September with Standard Chartered arranging the issues, the sources said. One of the sources said the fundraising was split into 10 separate issues of $100 million each.