Kuwait’s Equate Petrochemical is expected to launch in the first quarter, and potentially as soon as January, a US dollar sukuk issue, Reuters reported.
The potential sukuk issue would be part of the company’s $2b sukuk program, and would follow Equate’s debut $2.25b conventional bond sale last October.
The petrochemical producer, a joint venture involving Petrochemical Industries Company and the Dow Chemical, has not officially designated banks to manage the sukuk sale, but the banks which led Equate’s previous bond transaction are very likely to arrange the new deal, according to Wall Street 24.
The company’s $2.25b bond, consisting of a $1b long five-year bond maturing in 2022 and a $1.25b 10-year bond, was arranged by Citi, HSBC, JP Morgan and NBK Capital. Moreover, in June 2016, Equate took out a $5b billion syndicated loan, while in 2015 it raised $6b of bridge financing, which was mostly used to pay for the acquisition of the petrochemical company MEGlobal from Dow Chemical. The $6b loan was arranged by Citi, HSBC, JP Morgan, Kuwait Finance House and National Bank of Kuwait.
Kuwait Finance House, a sharia-compliant lender, could be involved in Equate’s sukuk issue alongside its international relationship banks, said one source.
