The issuance marks many firsts, including: the first ever perpetual equity-eligible corporate bond from an Oman headquartered business group, the first ever
dual-currency bond (with USD and OMR tranches) from the GCC and the first ever international bond by a MSM listed Omani corporate entity.
Summary: DUBAI -- International Petroleum Investment Co, or Ipic, the investment vehicle owned by the Abu Dhabi government, will price a $2.9 billion
dual-currency bond, at tighter guidance than earlier indicated, due to strong demand.
According to Reuters, Australia-based Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX), considered to be the fourth-biggest lender in the country, has postponed a
dual-currency bond.
A short time later, the banker suggests the company issue a
dual-currency bond, in which the principal is payable in dollars but the interest is denominated in sterling.
Thus, the corporate issuer would not have found it attractive to issue a
dual-currency bond prior to the development of the swaps market.
Last week, International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) priced a $2.9 billion equivalent
dual-currency bond. Gulf Investment Corp also priced a $500 million five-year bond in late November, its first dollar deal since 2005.
Fitch will continue to rate
dual-currency bonds (i.e.
In addition to these off-balance-sheet hedging alternatives, financially engineered instruments, such as
dual-currency bonds, provide on-balance-sheet hedging alternatives.