The National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah has started taking bids for its inaugural 5-year social bonds sale, an arranging bank document reviewed by Reuters showed on Thursday.

The initial price guidance for the debt sale has been set at around 170 basis points over U.S. Treasuries, the document said.

The lender plans to sell benchmark-sized, U.S. dollar-denominated, senior unsecured inaugural social bonds under the bank's $2 billion EMTN Programme.

Proceeds from the debt sale, which is expected to be priced later in the day, will be applied to finance or invest in Eligible Social Projects, the document added.

(Reporting by Mohammad Edrees; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)