Commercial Bank of Dubai lists $600m bond on Nasdaq Dubai

The Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) listed a $600m AT1 conventional bond on Nasdaq Dubai recently.

The six-year bond with a 6 per cent interest rate was 2.1 times subscribed.

It was allocated to investors in the Middle East (61 per cent), Europe (24 per cent) and Asia (13 per cent).

It is the first bond issuance that CBD has listed on Nasdaq Dubai, and to commemorate the listing, Dr. Bernd van Linder, chief executive of Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD), rang the market-opening bell on Wednesday, November 4.

“The success of the transaction and in particular the diversified interest reflect the confidence investors have in CBD’s strategy and execution as well as the strength of the UAE economy. The issuance will enable the bank to further support local UAE businesses now and into the future,” said Van Linder.

Darren Clarke, chief financial officer of CBD, added: “The final pricing of the bond, being the lowest coupon paid by a Dubai based bank issuer on a Basel III compliant AT1 bond to date, has exceeded our expectations.”

The value of new debt listings on Nasdaq Dubai so far this year has risen to $17.15bn, up 9 per cent from $15.85bn in the same period of 2019.

Dubai is the largest venue in the Middle East for US dollar denominated debt listings, with a total value of $87.4bn. By value 52 per cent are from UAE issuers and 48 per cent from overseas issuers.