UAE’s NBAD Launches $16.6m Uridashi Bond

National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), the UAE’s largest lender, announced the launch of a 15-year Uridashi bond worth $16.6 million (Dhs60.1 million), the first of its kind from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

An Uridashi bond, which is denominated in a non-yen currency and sold to smaller Japanese investors, will allow NBAD to directly access Japanese retail investors, the lender said in a statement.

“Being denominated in foreign currencies may afford investors higher interest rates than yen-denominated bonds,” it said.

The latest note is denominated in Mexican peso (MXN) and will be distributed under NBAD’s recently established shelf registration in Japan.

“We welcome the support of Japanese institutional and retail investors in the NBAD credit story and look forward to building stronger ties with investors in Japan in the coming years,” said Stephen Jordan, NBAD’s group treasurer.

Meanwhile, NBAD is also planning to raise up to A$250 million ($254 million) from a potential five-year Kangaroo bond sale, Reuters has reported.

NBAD has mandated Australia and New Zealand Banking Corp, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and itself as joint lead managers for the Australian dollar-denominated bond, said the report.

“We don’t need the liquidity, we’re just looking for a benchmark transaction,” Jordan told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference.

The bank, which posted a 16.8 per cent increase in 2012 net profit, announced earlier this year that it was planning to expand its international business.

“Our growth was a result of the success of our diversified business model, investment gains driven by favourable financial market conditions and successful hedging strategies,” said Michael Tomalin, NBAD group CEO.

“We also continued to expand our international presence by opening offices in China and Malaysia, and we have set a target of expanding internationally from 14 countries to 41 countries by 2022,” he said.