Abu Dhabi’s Union National Bank updating bond programme - sources

DUBAI - 10 August 2017: Abu Dhabi’s Union National Bank (UNB) is updating its bond programme and could issue a U.S. dollar-denominated bond after that, banking sources said on Thursday.

The lender, majority-owned by the government, is updating a Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) programme, a set of documentation allowing repeat bond issuance over time, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the information is private.

It has not yet appointed banks for the exercise and the timing of the potential bond issue is still uncertain.

UNB may become one of the first financial institutions in the Gulf to issue a public bond after the summer lull, during which issuance out of the region has nearly stopped.

The bank did not respond to a request for comment. UNB, which has a $3 billion bond programme in place, raised $300 million via five-year bonds last February. Prior to that, it issued a $600 million, five-year bond in October last year.

Excluding Islamic banks, UNB is the fourth largest commercial lender in the United Arab Emirates in terms of loans and advances. The bank is also present in Egypt and has branches in Kuwait and Qatar plus a representative office in China.

UNB is rated A1 by Moody’s and A+ by Fitch. Moody’s changed its outlook for UNB’s long-term deposit ratings to stable from negative in May, mirroring the same change of outlook for the government of Abu Dhabi.