GIC completes €400 million Euro Note issue

The issue is the third public tranche of GIC's US$2.5 billion EMTN programme and the largest ever Euro transaction of its kind originating out of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region.

Mr Hisham Abdulrazzaq Al-Razzuqi, CEO and General Manager of GIC, said he was extremely pleased with the success of the note issue.

"Our order book exceeded €525 million. This encouraged us to increase the issue size by 100 million Euros; and also enabled us to price the trade attractively at 35 basis points above the Euribor reference rate"

"During the road-shows, we received a high level of interest from investors who recognized the strength of GIC's capital base, ownership structure and creditworthiness. Some of these investors are participating into a regional note issue for the first time."Mr Al-Razzuqi said.

ABN AMRO and UBS acted as Joint Lead Managers and Bookrunners for the deal. GIC mounted an extensive roadshow across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, attracting strong investor support. Two roadshow teams were dedicated to Europe while one team met investors in Asian markets.

"The Euro avenue was chosen for a number of reasons. First of all, GIC has 1.2 billion Euros in Euro assets, which makes the financing in Euro a perfect fit. Secondly, the objective was to extend the duration of the corporation's liability. The 5-year issue substantially strengthens GIC's funding structure and supports our future growth.

Thirdly, GIC wanted to target the rapidly-growing pool of Euro investors, which will help us diversify our sources of funding," Mr Al-Razzuqi said. "I'm proud to say that the latter objective has been met, 75 percent of the note issue was sold outside the GCC region (45 percent sold in Europe, and 30 percent in Asia). Most importantly, 60 percent of the investors are new lenders to GIC and many are new to the region."

GIC's note issue was well received despite a climate of increase global market volatility and the GCC stock market correction.

GIC is a leading regional financial institution established under the auspices of the Gulf Cooperation Council and is equally owned by the six member states of the Council: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

GIC offers a comprehensive range of financial services to promote private enterprise and support economic growth in the GCC region.