Bahrain Mumtalakat trades, plans new deal; Latvia offering on tap; Asia issues price

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, Feb. 11 – Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Co. BSC’s existing notes were trading early Monday after the real estate company announced that it is planning to price a new dollar-denominated benchmark offering of five-year Islamic bonds, or sukuk, according to a London-based trader.

The older notes were seen at 97.125 bid, 97.625 offered with a z-spread of 254 basis points on the bid side.

The issuer has mandated BNP Paribas, Citigroup, HSBC, National Bank of Bahrain and Standard Chartered to organize roadshow meetings for the proposed offering on Tuesday.

After a rout at the end of 2018, Bahrain’s sovereign spreads tightened dramatically through January with the country’s 5 7/8% notes due 2021 tightening 60 basis points for the first month of the year.

Also on Monday, the Republic of Latvia announced that it plans to price a new euro-denominated 30-year benchmark offering of notes. The Regulation S deal is being marketed via Citigroup, Credit Agricole and Goldman Sachs.

In Asia, market players were back in full swing following last week’s New Year’s holiday. Shanghai-based Zhenro Properties Group Ltd. joined the new issue calendar for a dollar-denominated note.

Meanwhile, Guangzhou, China-based China Aoyuan Property Group Ltd. priced $225 million 7.95% five-year notes at par on Monday. The proceeds will be used to refinance existing debt.

Shanghai-based Baoxin Auto Finance I Ltd. priced $300 million of 7.9% senior notes due 2020.

And Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank PCL priced $1 billion of notes in two tranches due 2024 and 2029 (BBB+/BBB+). The $500 million of notes due 2024 priced with a 3.9% coupon, and the $500 million of notes due 2029 priced with a coupon of 4.4%.

Emerging markets debt spreads, which improved significantly through January, have been generally flattish in February. On Monday, financial markets were generally weighed down by concerns regarding U.S-China trade talks, and U.S. Treasuries fell, sending yields higher, so EM debt spreads were narrowed on that move. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are leading a delegation to Beijing to hammer out trade issues. President Trump says he will not meet with China’s President Xi Jinping before March 1 when a 90-day pause for negotiations concludes. If talks do not yield an agreement between the two countries, then tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods that are currently in place will more than double.

© 2015 Prospect News.
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