Gulf International Bank to hire advisers for Dollar bond

Gulf International Bank, whose main shareholder is Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, hired firms including HSBC Holdings to arrange its first international bond sale in three years, two people with knowledge of the plan said.

Standard Chartered and First Abu Dhabi Bank are among other advisers chosen for the debt sale, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information is not public yet.

The bonds are likely to be offered as soon as this week, the people said.

Gulf International Bank last tapped international bond markets in 2017, when it sold $500m of securities, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Moody’s Investors Service rates the lender’s notes Baa1, the third-lowest investment grade.

A spokesperson at GIB, which is headquartered in Bahrain, did not immediately respond to requests for a comment.

Corporate issues are joining a surge of bond sales from the region after governments raced to shore up cash reserves amid a slump in oil prices. Bond yields are at all-time lows, attracting borrowers to the debt markets.

Bond sales from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes the two biggest Arab economies of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have climbed 24 per cent to $86.2bn so far this year.

Bahrain raised $2bn from a two-part sale last week, following a $2bn dollar bond sale by Dubai and a $5bn three-part offering by Abu Dhabi.