Dubai’s MAF Tightens Pricing Ahead Of $500m Bond Sale

Dubai-based shopping mall developer Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) has tightened price guidance on its planned 10-year $500 million bond issue, which is due to be sold later on Tuesday, a document from lead arrangers showed.

High demand for the offering has helped MAF reduce the prospective cost of its borrowing.

The bond will price in the range between 195 basis points and 200 basis points over midswaps, the document said. This is down from the 212.5 bps area over midswaps communicated earlier on Tuesday.

Family-owned MAF has picked Barclays, Credit Agricole, Citigroup, Emirates NBD, HSBC and Standard Chartered to arrange the sale, which is its first public debt issue since October.

Then, it printed a $500 million hybrid bond, one of the first offerings of such an instrument from the Gulf Arab region. Hybrid bonds have both debt and equity characteristics.