Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi, holder of about 6 per cent of the world’s oil reserves, will hold fixed-income investor meetings in Asia this week, a person familiar with the matter said.
The emirate, capital of the UAE, will meet investors in Hong Kong, Taipei and Singapore from Monday, said the person said, asking not to be identified because he wasn’t authorised to speak publicly. The meetings are arranged by HSBC Holdings Plc and it isn’t clear if the emirate plans to sell bonds after the roadshow, said the person.
Gulf states are selling bonds to shore up public finances after the slump in oil prices put a strain on government budgets. Kuwait picked six banks to advise on its first international debt sale, people familiar with the matter said this week. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi raised more than $30 billion from global bond markets last year to finance their budget deficits.
Abu Dhabi, whose debt carries the third-highest investment grade at Standard & Poor’s Global Rating, raised $5 billion last April in its first bond sale in seven years. Abu Dhabi was expected to post a budget deficit of Dh36.9 billion ($10 billion) last year if oil averaged $40 a barrel, up from an estimated Dh32.4 billion in 2015, according to its bond prospectus at the time.
