FGB's EMTN conventional bonds oversubscribed by four times

Lead jointly by Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, NBAD and Standard Chartered Bank as Joint Lead Managers and Joint Book runners, the transaction set the final price for the five-year bonds at 210 basis points above midswaps. The EMTN Bonds are listed in London and retain a fixed interest rate of 2.862% p.a.

Proceeds from these Bonds, which were issued under FGB's $3.5bn EMTN Programme (EMTN) and were recently updated and approved by the United Kingdom Listing Authority (UKLA), are to be used by the bank for general corporate purposes, to diversify the funding base.

Commenting on the success of the transaction, Andre' Sayegh, CEO of First Gulf Bank said: "Once again, investors have shown their confidence in FGB and our ability to provide sustainable returns to our investors and shareholders, by maintaining a strong and liquid balance sheet. This confidence is a direct result of the bank's solid foundation and continuous endorsement of our stakeholders to our business strategies."

The breakup of sales was allocated to different locations, where 57% of investors were Middle East and North Africa based, 27% were from Europe, 13% from Asian markets, and 3% from the United States. The transaction was divided between Banks (40%), Fund Managers (36%), Private Banks (15%) and Central Banks (9%).

In November 2009, FGB rose under this programme $500m senior unsecured three-year notes. The bank has also issued in January 2011 under the same programme five-year 200m Swiss franc ($206m) notes

Under its FGB Sukuk Company Limited $3.5bn Trust Certificate Issuance Programme, the bank had two very successful issuances of Sukuk (Islamic bonds), $650m in July 2011 and $500m in January 2012. Both were oversubscribed by many folds.