Qatar is selling its first dollar bonds in four years and its debut green deal, as one of the world's largest liquefied natural gas exporters seeks to tap into a booming global market for sustainable debt.
The government is selling green bonds with maturities of five and 10 years, according to people familiar with the matter. Initial spread guidance is 70 basis points over US Treasuries for the short tranche and 80 basis points for the longer one.
The final terms, including the pricing and size, will probably be announced later on Tuesday.
Green bonds from the Middle East have gained traction in the past few years, with investors piling into sales from the likes of Saudi Arabia's wealth fund, Abu Dhabi's main property company and the government of Sharjah.
Qatar is yet to announce a timeline for zeroing out its carbon emissions and is one of the world's highest per capita emitters of planet-warming gases. Like other nations in the Gulf, it uses plenty of energy on air conditioning and to desalinate water.
Yet it is spending billions of dollars to ramp up solar power. It also argues that gas is a fuel that will help with global climate goals because it's cleaner than oil or coal, though the industry is associated with methane leaks.
Qatar is one of the richest countries in the world and has a rating of AA or its equivalent "- the third-highest possible "- from all three major ratings companies.
It last came to the eurobond market in April 2020, raising $10 billion after attracting $45 billion of orders from investors.
The main banks arranging the latest deal are CrA(c)dit Agricole AS, HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Qatar National Bank
