Tag Archives | bonds

Is it time to Invest in Iraqi Bonds?

By John Lee. Boutique investment bank Exotix Partners has issued a "buy" alert on Iraqi benchmark U.S.-dollar 2028 bonds on Tuesday, following a "sell" notice in September. The company says: "It seems that an extra level of country risk is being embedded in Iraq specifically, perhaps because the market views its debt as unsustainable. Having once […]

Standard Chartered in talks on $2bn Iraq Bond Sale

By John Lee. The CEO of Standard Chartered in Iraq has said that the bank is in talks with Iraq’s Finance Ministry to take part in a $2-billion bond sale this year. Andreas Meletiou also told Bloomberg that the London-based bank is also holding talks with other government institutions about their financing needs. A planned […]

Fitch revises Iraq's Outlook to Negative

Fitch Ratings has revised its outlook on Iraq's Long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Negative from Stable and affirmed the IDR at 'B-'. The Country Ceiling has been affirmed at 'B-' and the Short-Term foreign currency IDR at 'B'. KEY RATING DRIVERS The revision of the Outlook reflects the following key rating drivers: […]

Dana Gas Seller Turns Buyer

By John Lee. An investment manager who correctly predicted that Dana Gas would miss payments on its Islamic bonds in 2012, has said the company's stocks and bonds are now core holdings for his company. Ghassan Chehayeb, who helps manage about $30 million of assets at Houston-based SanctaCapital Group, told Bloomberg that the $2 billion […]

Iraq Abandons Govt Bond Issue

By John Lee. Reuters quotes Iraqi Deputy Finance Minister Fathil Nabi as saying that Iraq has abandoned its plan to issue international bonds because the yield it would have to pay was too high. The required return on the bonds reportedly forced Finance minister Hoshiyar Zebari (pictured) to halt the plan to raise up to […]

Moody's Rates Iraqi Govt Bonds

Moody's Investors Service has today assigned a provisional rating of (P)Caa1 to Government of Iraq's planned USD-bond issuance, with a stable outlook. The rating was initiated by Moody's Investors Service and was not requested by the rated entity. It is being assigned ahead of planned issuance of USD-denominated debt by the Iraqi government in the […]

KRG to Enter Bond Market

By Simon Kent. After months of talks, the Kurdish Regional Government says it has authorisation from Baghdad to issue bonds, in a move aimed at easing growing financial pains in the semi autonomous region. According to Bloomberg, the region needs approximately $1.4 billion to balance its books. Quoting IBN blogger Robert Tollast, the report noted how the KRG […]

KRG to Borrow Internationally

By John Lee. BasNews, citing an anonymous source, reports that one German and one American bank have expressed interest in lending to Erbil, if it proves its ability to repay the loan and interest. The KRG Parliament recently passed a bill allowing the government to borrow up to $5 billion (6 trillion iraqi dinars), at […]

DNO Completes $400m Bond Placement

DNO ASA, the Norwegian oil and gas operator, has completed the placement of USD 400 million of new, five-year senior unsecured bonds with a coupon rate of 8.75 percent and an issue price of 87.5 percent of par value. The bond placement received strong investor demand across international markets and its combination of a fixed […]

Genel Energy Secures Additional Funding

By John Lee. Genel Energy has announced that it has completed its issue of the U.S. $230 million 7.5% senior unsecured bonds due 14 May 2019. As part of the issue of the bonds, Genel Energy Finance 3 plc (as issuer) and Genel Energy plc (as parent) entered into a bond agreement on 9 April […]

Genel, ShaMaran Issue Bonds

By John Lee. Genel Energy has announced that it has completed its issue of $500 million of 7.5% senior unsecured bonds due 2019. Also, ShaMaran Petroleum has announced the listing on Oslo Børs of the USD 150 million senior secured bond issued by its wholly owned subsidiary, General Exploration Partners, Inc. The bonds carry a […]