Sharjah starts selling debut sustainable bonds - IFR
The government of Sharjah, one of the seven United Arab Emirates, has begun taking orders for a sale of nine-year sustainable bonds denominated in U.S. dollars, fixed income news service IFR said on Wednesday.
Initial price guidance was around 310 basis points over U.S. Treasuries maturing in February 2033, IFR said.
HSBC is the global coordinator. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Citi, Gulf International Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, Invest Bank and SMBC Nikko are joint lead managers and bookrunners.
The bonds - Sharjah's debut sustainable issue - are expected to price later on Wednesday. They are expected to be of benchmark size, which typically means at least $500 million.
Sharjah needs about $4.7 billion in financing this year for a $2.3 billion budgeted deficit and $2.4 billion in maturing bank loans, Justin Alexander, director of Khalij Economics and Gulf analyst for GlobalSource Partners, said in a research note.
"The issuance will be benchmark size but probably not too large given that the proceeds are supposed to be hypothecated to "sustainable" uses including renewable energy, affordable housing and access to healthcare and education -- the latter two points could potentially be used (to) cover a range of normal recurrent spending," Alexander wrote.
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