Emaar Properties could tap the debt market this year. Sarah Dea / The National
Emaar Properties could tap the debt market this year. Sarah Dea / The National

UAE to drive Mena bond issuances in 2015



US-dollar bond issuance in the Arabian Gulf is expected to reach up to US$40 billion this year compared with $38bn last year, driven by the UAE, an executive from France’s Crédit Agricole said.

The UAE’s diversified economy makes it more resilient to the oil price drop and more attractive to investor appetite for its issuers, the bank said.

“We expect the UAE to stand out because the UAE is much more diversified than other economies in the GCC and it has a lower reliance on oil prices,” said Christiane Nasr, the head of regional fixed income and the director of the Dubai office at Crédit Agricole Private Banking.

“Dubai bonds are the most attractive bonds in the region so far, and there is still a lot of room for spread compression if we are to compare it to Abu Dhabi.

“This year we can expect Dubai to do better [than Abu Dhabi]. We can expect Dubai to issue more and more bonds because it has huge infrastructure projects such as Expo 2020. Also, it wants to build its reputation [in the bond market].”

Some of the companies expected to sell debt this year include the government-related entity Dubai Holding, which could raise between $500 million and $1bn, she said.

Other names that could tap the debt market are Emaar Properties, the Dubai carrier Emirates Airline and the low-cost carrier flydubai. Many new issues, especially from corporates, came to the market last year, and many more are expected this year. The deleveraging that Dubai firms have conducted since 2009 has helped to improve the emirate’s reputation among investors, Ms Nasr said.

“Dubai has stronger feet than before and there is huge confidence from global investors [in Dubai],” she said. In Saudi Arabia, where the government plans to open up the stock market to foreign investors in the first half of this year, bond issuances are expected to rise as foreign investors flock to the region’s biggest equity market.

“This will trigger the opening of local bonds in Saudi riyals for foreign investors,” said Ms Nasr.

The Mena region outperformed the rest of Asia last year in terms of total returns on bonds, but this year the region is expected to drop to second place and be topped by the rest of Asia.

As a net importer of oil, Asia will perform better than Mena in terms of total returns on bonds, where oil exporters are suffering from a 60 per cent drop in the price of crude since June of last year.

Crédit Agricole expects Mena bonds to have a total return of about 5 per cent this year, compared with an average of 7.2 per cent last year, she said.

Yields on Mena bonds have widened as the oil price has dropped, leading to slower growth and heightened risk in holding regional paper. Despite the oil price slump and instability in the region, Mena bonds still perform well against other emerging markets such as Brazil, Venezuela and Russia, she added.

dalsaadi@thenational.ae

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Find the right policy for you

Don’t wait until the week you fly to sign up for insurance – get it when you book your trip. Insurance covers you for cancellation and anything else that can go wrong before you leave.

Some insurers, such as World Nomads, allow you to book once you are travelling – but, as Mr Mohammed found out, pre-existing medical conditions are not covered.

Check your credit card before booking insurance to see if you have any travel insurance as a benefit – most UAE banks, such as Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, have cards that throw in insurance as part of their package. But read the fine print – they may only cover emergencies while you’re travelling, not cancellation before a trip.

Pre-existing medical conditions such as a heart condition, diabetes, epilepsy and even asthma may not be included as standard. Again, check the terms, exclusions and limitations of any insurance carefully.

If you want trip cancellation or curtailment, baggage loss or delay covered, you may need a higher-grade plan, says Ambareen Musa of Souqalmal.com. Decide how much coverage you need for emergency medical expenses or personal liability. Premium insurance packages give up to $1 million (Dh3.7m) in each category, Ms Musa adds.

Don’t wait for days to call your insurer if you need to make a claim. You may be required to notify them within 72 hours. Gather together all receipts, emails and reports to prove that you paid for something, that you didn’t use it and that you did not get reimbursed.

Finally, consider optional extras you may need, says Sarah Pickford of Travel Counsellors, such as a winter sports holiday. Also ensure all individuals can travel independently on that cover, she adds. And remember: “Cheap isn’t necessarily best.”

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