'UIDANCEûWASûSETûATûû
BP û
with demand over US$500m. Pricing came
at the tight end.
h)TSûDElNITELYûAûGROWINGûSTORYûANDûWEûHADû
a very strong retail bid,” said a lead.
The lead saw the notes as coming
marginally inside fair value, based on the
Tier 2s.
Conditions now proved more favourable
for Fiba than in its last attempt to print the
deal. In November, spreads for Turkish
lenders had widened due to rumours about
THEûSECTOR ûINCLUDINGû)RAN
RELATEDûlNESûANDû
funding restrictions from certain
multilaterals.
Even though some of those rumours were
spurious – Turkey’s banking regulator shot
DOWNûTHEûSTORYûABOUTûPOSSIBLEû53ûlNESûBEINGû
imposed on six lenders for alleged violations
of Iran sanctions – bank bonds suffered.
)NûTHEûEND ûANOTHERûlNANCIALûINSTITUTIONû
WITHINûTHEû&IBAû'ROUP û#REDITû%UROPEû"ANK û
printed a deal with a US$150m Tier 2.
Bank ABC, Citigroup, ICBC Standard Bank and
Standard Chartered were joint bookrunners.
MIDDLE EAST
KUWAIT
ALAFCO CONTEMPLATES ISLAMIC ROUTEKuwait’s AVIATION LEASE AND FINANCE COMPANY is
considering issuing an Islamic bond, its
chief executive said on Wednesday.
ALAFCO will seek a credit rating before
approaching the market, Ahmad Abdullah
Alzabin told Reuters at an air show in Kuwait.
The company is still deciding how much
it might seek to raise, and when it might
issue the sukuk, he said.
ALAFCO raised US$300m through an
Islamic facility last September.
ALAFCO owns 68 aircraft worth around
US$3bn and has a further 127 aircraft on
order, Alzabin said.
UAE
EMIRATES NBD NAMES LEADS FOR
SWISS ROADSHOW
EMIRATES NBD has mandated banks for a Swiss
franc bond issue with an intermediate
maturity.
The bank, one of the largest in the BCC by
total assets, has hired BNP Paribas, Deutsche
Bank and HSBC as lead managers and
bookrunners. Investor meetings begin on
Wednesday.
%MIRATESû."$ûISûRATEDû! ûBYû&ITCHûANDû!û
by Moody’s.DUBAI ISLAMIC BANK POISED FOR SUKUKDUBAI ISLAMIC BANK, the largest sharia-
compliant bank in the United Arab
Emirates, is expected to issue soon a
US dollar-denominated Islamic bond
offering in the region of US$750m,sources familiar with the matter told
Reuters.
The bank, which just reported a 26%
INCREASEûINûFOURTH
QUARTERûNETûPROlT ûHASû
appointed a group of banks including HSBC
and Standard Chartered for the sukuk issue.
The bank’s chief executive Adnan
Chilwan said on Wednesday during a
conference call to discuss the lender’s
FOURTH
QUARTERûRESULTSûTHATû$UBAIû)SLAMICûEMERGING MARKETS MIDDLE EASTWeeks of talks fail to resolve
Dana Gas dispute
ISLAMIC FINANCE Legal resolution could take monthsWeeks of talks between UAE energy firm DANA
GAS and some local holders of a disputed
US$700m sukuk issue have failed to reach an
agreement, sources said, leaving a potentially
protracted legal battle as the only available
option for now.
Last year, Dana refused to redeem US$700m
of maturing Islamic bonds, arguing that they
were no longer valid under United Arab Emirates
law because of changes in Islamic financial
practice over the last several years.
The move shocked the global Islamic finance
industry, as some investors worried it could set
a precedent for other sukuk issuers that might
refuse to repay their obligations on the grounds
of religious permissibility.
Dana proposed in June to swap its sukuk, held
by international investors such as BlackRock as
well as UAE investors, with new sharia-compliant
bonds, but creditors rejected the proposal, saying
the terms were unfavourable.
The case moved to UAE and British courts.
Legal proceedings in both countries are
continuing, but in November a British court ruled
in favour of Dana’s creditors.
In the past few weeks Dana’s financial adviser
on the dispute, US firm Houlihan Lokey, has been
in talks with some of Dana’s UAE creditors to
seek a potential out-of-court solution, several
sources familiar with the matter said.
The UAE creditors, represented by Dubai-
based Arqaam Capital, include National Bonds
Corp, an investment company specialising in
sharia-compliant financial products. National
Bonds is owned by Investment Corp of Dubai, an
investment arm of the Dubai government.NO COMMENT
National Bonds did not respond to a request for
comment. Dana and a committee representing
major international sukuk holders declined to
comment.
Arun Reddy, a managing director at Houlihan
Lokey, said: “Dana Gas’ financial adviserhas been approached by various local and
international creditors over this process. It’s clear
from those discussions that creditors, including
local creditors, prefer a consensual against a
litigation-driven outcome.”
A legal source familiar with the matter said
Dana held talks with UAE creditors because
“there has always been the view that local
creditors were more open than their international
counterparts” to a settlement.
Moelis, the firm advising the creditors’
committee, was made aware of the discussions,
the sources said.
The talks revolved around Dana’s original
restructuring proposal from last June and no
new, formal proposal was advanced, which is
why they have not led to any meaningful result,
the sources said.
“Discussions were about interest rates,
amortisations, conversion rates, but Houlihan didn’t
appear to have a mandate to negotiate on these
sticky points conclusively,” said one of the sources.
According to two sources, since the talks
were not leading anywhere, Moelis decided last
week not to engage in them. A third source said,
however, that local creditors were not aware of
such a decision. Moelis declined to comment.
The lack of a resolution means that going
through the courts - which could take many
more months or even years, people familiar with
the matter have said - may be the only option
available, at least for the time being.
New proceedings are scheduled to take place
in a British court this month to address issues
such as injunctions, obtained in previous phases
of the case, that prevent creditors from enforcing
claims and limit Dana’s ability to pursue legal
action in a court in Sharjah, where the company
is headquartered.
“There are still legal mechanisms that the
company can use, so the company is still acting
as if they have legal ground to put themselves in
a better negotiating position,” one creditor said.
Davide Barbuscia