Saudi Arabia tops MENA debt capital market activity in Q4 2018

Saudi Arabia leads the Middle East and North African (MENA) region in Q4 2018 in debt capital market activity with total debt issuance totaling $22.21 billion, notes the latest report by Refinitiv, formerly the Financial & Risk business division of Thomson Reuters.

“Saudi Arabia was the most active nation in the region accounting for 26.2 percent of activity by value, followed by the UAE with 25.7 percent,” said the report that analyzes the 2018 investment banking activity in the MENA markets.

Qatar comes third ($19.1 billion), followed by Oman ($10.5 billion), and Egypt ($7.1 billion) issuance.

Overall, Refinitiv report noted, despite showing an 18 percent decrease compared to 2017, debt issuance in the MENA region is at its second highest level since our records began, reaching $84.8 billion in 2018.

The most active sector for the debt capital activity was government and agencies (with $39.7 billion issuance), followed by financials ($32 billion). Energy & power and industrials emerged as other active sectors, Refinitiv data show.

International Islamic debt issuance decreased 20 percent from 2017 to reach $40.2 billion during 2018. Standard Chartered leads in the Middle Eastern and North African bond ranking for 2018 with a 15.2 percent share of the market, while CIMB Group Holdings took the top spot for Islamic DCM issuance with an 11.8 percent share, Refinitiv report added.

Write to Sunil Kumar Singh at sunil.kumar@argaamplus.com