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Nov 3 (Reuters) - Bahraini sovereign fund Mumtalakat has set up separate bond and sukuk issuanceprogrammes in the Irish stock exchange to raise as much as $1billion, to help refinance maturing debt next year.
One of the smaller sovereign wealth funds in the Gulfregion, Mumtalakat holds stakes in several firms in thekingdom's non-oil sector, including Bahrain TelecommunicationsCo and Aluminium Bahrain.
The multi-currency programmes have been assigned a BBBrating by Fitch ratings, which said proceeds would be used predominantly to refinance upcoming maturities.
Mumtalakat, set up in 2006, issued a debut five-year $750million bond in June 2010 and has since printed two small sukukdeals denominated in Malaysian ringgit.
In March, its chief executive said the fund had no plans totap the debt capital markets this year and that it would remainopportunistic in its funding approach.
Traditionally focused on Bahrain, Mumtalakat is eyeinginvestments worldwide and hopes to complete some acquisitions inthe information and communications technology space.
Mumtalakat has hired HSBC, BNP Paribas,Deutsche Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Standard Chartered for the deal. (Reporting by Bernardo Vizcaino; Editing by SimonCameron-Moore)
