Burgan Bank plans roadshow for bond issue soon-paper

Burgan Bank plans roadshow for bond issue soon-paper

JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Standard Chartered to arrange the roadshow.

September 6, 2010 8:56 by Reuters

Kuwait’s Burgan Bank, the commercial banking arm of Kuwait Projects Co (KIPCO), is planning a roadshow for a dollar-denominated bond issue soon, a local newspaper reported on Monday.

JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Standard Chartered are arranging the roadshow, Kuwaiti daily al-Rai said citing sources.

Officials at Burgan Bank could not be immediately reached for comment.

KIPCO, the country’s biggest investment firm, launched a $500 million bond issue in July with a 10-year tenor and a yield of 9.5 percent, and was oversubscribed by almost four times.

In June, Burgan’s Chairman Majed Eisa al-Ajeel said the lender would issue bonds worth up to 140 million dinars ($486.1 million), and may sell some of the issue to foreign investors, with the priority for the local market.

Burgan is pushing to move outside of its home market to offset rising competition at home where foreign players have entered the fray. It has stakes in the Bank of Baghdad, Algeria Gulf Bank, Jordan Kuwait Bank and Tunis International Bank.

(Reporting by Eman Goma; Editing by Dinesh Nair)