National Bank of Dubai to list $750m bond on DIFX

National Bank of Dubai (NBD), the UAE's second-biggest bank by assets, will list its recently launched $750 million bond on the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX) today, it said in a statement yesterday.

The floating rate note will be the 11th security and the first debt instrument to list on DIFX, the new exchange in the city's financial free zone, since it opened on September 26.

The note matures in December 2010 and carries a coupon rate 0.35 per cent over a three month dollar Libor (London inter-bank offered rate), according to reports in the UAE's dailies.

A spokesman for DIFX said the bond had already listed on the London Stock Exchange and this was a secondary listing.

In December, NBD said that a DIFX listing will provide both local and international investors an opportunity to trade in the bonds.

Seventy-seven per cent of the bond's subscribers are from the UK, Europe and Asia, while the remainder are from the Middle East.

"This is a significant milestone in the development of the DIFX.

Not only is this the first debt instrument to list on this market, it is expected to be the first of a number of issues in 2006 from a UAE company," Steffen Schubert, DIFX chief executive, said.

The NBD bond is also likely to be the first of many fixed income securities to be issued on the DIFX." DIFX, which is aiming to be the top regional exchange between East Asia and Western Europe, has begun trading in nine index-tracking securities and Lebanese telecoms firm Investcom.

"The establishment of a strong and liquid debt market will be a catalyst for the economic and financial development of the entire region, allowing companies and governments to raise capital efficiently. It is one of a wide range of attractive asset classes that the DIFX will offer investors," said Nasser Al Shaali, DIFX's chief operating officer.

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