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DUBAI - Kuwait Projects Co (KIPCO), the Gulf state's largest listed investment company, has completed a 100 million dinar ($331 million) seven-year bond issue, it said on Thursday
Corporate bonds in Kuwait are typically shorter-dated issues, but KIPCO said its seven-year bond will leave it without any debt repayments until the middle of 2019.
"By issuing these dinar bonds, we have reduced our debt maturity concentration by converting from short-term into longer-term (debt)," said Faisal al-Ayyar, KIPCO's vice chairman. "The funds raised by the bonds will be used to repay existing obligations, stagger our maturities and diversify our investor base."
Gulf Bank, KAMCO Investment Company and NBK Capital were the joint lead arrangers on the issue, which was 1.45 times oversubscribed, KIPCO said.
The bonds were issued in fixed and floating-rate tranches, with the fixed bond paying 5.25 percent annually and the floating bond paying a coupon of 2.25 percent annually over the Kuwaiti central bank discount rate, KIPCO said.
KIPCO has assets of $32 billion, including ownership interests in more than 60 companies across 24 countries in financial services, media, real estate, manufacturing and other sectors. ($1 = 0.3017 Kuwaiti dinars)
(Reporting By Tom Arnold; Editing by David Goodman) ((Tom.Arnold@thomsonreuters.com; +97144536265; Reuters Messaging: tom.arnold.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Corporate bonds in Kuwait are typically shorter-dated issues, but KIPCO said its seven-year bond will leave it without any debt repayments until the middle of 2019.
"By issuing these dinar bonds, we have reduced our debt maturity concentration by converting from short-term into longer-term (debt)," said Faisal al-Ayyar, KIPCO's vice chairman. "The funds raised by the bonds will be used to repay existing obligations, stagger our maturities and diversify our investor base."
Gulf Bank, KAMCO Investment Company and NBK Capital were the joint lead arrangers on the issue, which was 1.45 times oversubscribed, KIPCO said.
The bonds were issued in fixed and floating-rate tranches, with the fixed bond paying 5.25 percent annually and the floating bond paying a coupon of 2.25 percent annually over the Kuwaiti central bank discount rate, KIPCO said.
KIPCO has assets of $32 billion, including ownership interests in more than 60 companies across 24 countries in financial services, media, real estate, manufacturing and other sectors. ($1 = 0.3017 Kuwaiti dinars)
(Reporting By Tom Arnold; Editing by David Goodman) ((Tom.Arnold@thomsonreuters.com; +97144536265; Reuters Messaging: tom.arnold.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
