| Kippreport.com

New Abu Dhabi debt policy to cut risks

October 24, 2012 5:38 by Reuters

INTERNAL POLITICS

But while the document, first revealed in the Financial Times on Oct. 23, prioritises the role of the Executive Council, it does not significantly change investors’ view of the level of government support for GREs, bankers and analysts said.

“Abu Dhabi’s four major state-owned enterprises…are essentially unaffected by the emirate’s recently approved public debt policy,” Fitch Ratings said in a report on Wednesday.

It added that the document was in line with previous statements offering broad and continued state support to Mubadala, IPIC, TAQA and Tourism Development & Investment Co.

Prices of outstanding Abu Dhabi state-linked bonds have not moved significantly since news of the document emerged as investors aren’t worried about it, said Chavan Bhogaita, head of markets strategy at National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

The document’s main function is to clarify aspects of debt issuance, and particularly the role of Abu Dhabi’s fledgling Debt Management Office, which is tasked with ensuring public debt is managed at sensible levels and that any entity issuing bonds does so in line with the emirate’s wider strategy.

“It is clear that some solid governance procedures are being introduced to avoid any future ambiguity of credit risk within Abu Dhabi,” said a senior debt banker in Abu Dhabi.

Such planning has grown in importance ever since Dubai‘s 2009 debt crisis, which required Abu Dhabi to bail out its neighbour and caused the restructuring of billions of dollars of debt. This damaged the reputations of Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, of which Abu Dhabi is the largest member.

Abu Dhabi is cautious about debt risks, so the issue of the document “was expected sooner or later after what happened in Dubai“, said an official at one Abu Dhabi state entity.

In the longer term, however, the document underlines that Abu Dhabi sees its GREs operating as financially independent companies.

“This document does make the GREs more conscious of the fact they need to stand on their own feet, and that the government is willing to rein in control over debt issuance to avoid debt levels spiralling out of control,” Bhogaita said.

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Tags: Abu Dhabi