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DUBAI, Sept 7 (Reuters) - National Bank of Kuwait,
the Gulf country's largest lender, has hired banks to arrange
the sale of U.S. dollar-denominated six-year bonds that will be
non-callable for five years, a bank document showed on Tuesday.
Citi, JPMorgan and NBK Capital have been
mandated as joint global coordinators. Those banks and BofA
Securities, Goldman Sachs International, HSBC
, MUFG and Standard Chartered will act
as joint lead managers and bookrunners, the document from one of
the banks showed.
They will arrange investor calls starting on Tuesday, to be
followed by a benchmark issuance of senior unsecured paper,
subject to market conditions. Benchmark size typically means at
least $500 million.
After a characteristic summer lull, Gulf debt markets have
geared up to resume a spate of bond deals from banks so far this
year, as they have taken advantage of low rates to raise cash as
well as boost tier 1 capital.
NBK in February sold $700 million in Additional Tier 1
bonds, the riskiest debt instruments banks can issue that are
designed to be perpetual in nature but can be redeemed after a
specified period.
In November, it raised $300 million in 10-year Tier 2 bonds.
Banks are seen constituting a larger proportion of the
oil-rich region's bond market this year as sovereigns - which
last year made up roughly half of all issuance - are expected to
make up a smaller share than past years, helped by lower funding
needs due to recovery from the pandemic and higher crude prices.
(Reporting by Yousef Saba
Editing by Mark Potter)
