(Updates with financial information from prospectus,
background)
By Yousef Saba
DUBAI, July 5 (Reuters) - The Emirate of Sharjah has hired
banks to arrange an issuance of 10-year U.S. dollar-denominated
sukuk, or Islamic bonds, a document showed on Monday, the latest
Gulf sovereign to tap the world debt markets.
HSBC was hired as global coordinator, the document
from one of the banks on the deal showed. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank
, Dubai Islamic Bank, Sharjah Islamic Bank
, Standard Chartered and The Islamic
Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector will join
HSBC in arranging investor calls starting on Monday.
A sukuk offering, Sharjah's second this year, will follow,
subject to market conditions.
The deal comes despite governments of the hydrocarbon-rich
Gulf benefiting from a rebound from the shock of last year's oil
price crash, with Brent crude at around $76.5 on Monday,
and the COVID-19 pandemic's impact lessening.
Sharjah's mining and quarrying sector - which includes crude
oil and natural gas - contributed just 4.3% of nominal gross
domestic product last year, according to the sukuk prospectus,
but the UAE is a major crude producer.
Rated long-term BBB-(minus) with a stable outlook by S&P and
Baa3 with a negative outlook by Moody's, Sharjah raised $1.25
billion in a two-tranche conventional bond deal in March
comprising 12- and 30-year notes.
Last year, it raised a total of $2.25 billion via a sale of
sukuk, another 30-year Formosa bond issuance and a reopening of
existing bonds.
Sharjah's revenue, which fell 24% to 8.7 billion dirhams
($2.4 billion) year-on-year in 2020, is projected to rise to 9.7
billion dirhams this year, according to the sukuk prospectus,
reviewed by Reuters.
The small emirate, which has a relatively diverse economy
compared to most Gulf sovereigns, sees spending rising to 17.2
billion dirhams this year from 16.5 billion dirhams in 2020 and
17.6 billion dirhams in 2019.
That would mean its deficit could edge down slightly to 7.5
billion dirhams this year from 7.8 billion dirhams last year -
though still above 2019's deficit of 6.1 billion dirhams.
($1 = 3.6726 UAE dirham)
(Reporting by Yousef Saba; Editing by Alex Richardson and Peter
Graff)
Standard Chartered (STAN)
HSBC Holdings (HSBA)
