Dubai-based developer Omniyat Holdings’ maiden USD 500 mn green sukuk issuance was 3.6x oversubscribed, according to a press release issued on Wednesday. The issuance — which is set to be listed on the London Stock Exchange’s International Securities Market and Nasdaq Dubai — was upsized from an initial USD 400 mn and priced at a yield of 8.375%, slightly wider than early guidance in the 8% range.

Why it matters: The deal marks Omniyat’s shift from loan markets to public debt, and signals rising demand for green-labelled instruments from UAE property names. It also adds to the momentum in regional ESG debt issuance.

ADVISORS- Mashreq, Citi, ADCB, DIB, ENBD Capital, JP Morgan, and Standard Chartered Bank are the joint global coordinators, while Mashreq, Citi, ADCB, Ajman Bank, Bank of Sharjah, CBD, DIB, ENBD Capital, FAB, JP Morgan, Kamco Invest, RAKBANK, Sharjah Islamic Bank, Standard Chartered and Warba Bank are joint lead managers and joint book runners.

IN OTHER DEBT UPDATES-

Moroccan state-owned fertilizer and phosphate exporter OCP Group has raised USD 1.75 bn (c. MAD 16.2 bn) in a dual-tranche Eurobond issuance, Morocco World News reported on Sunday. The funds are reportedly earmarked for raising capacity, upgrading facilities, and developing the company’s worldwide environmental initiatives.

The details: The issuance — which was 4x oversubscribed — is divided into two tranches, with the first comprising USD 1 bn (c. MAD 9.3 bn) in bonds at an 11-year tenor, and the second tranche covering the remaining USD 750 mn (MAD 6.9 bn) with a five-year tenor.

OCP’s production is crucial to global food supply: OCP is one of the world’s top producers of phosphate fertilizers, an essential product for the world’s food security that experts have said has been a major force for rising agricultural yields in the last few decades, according to a Middle East Institute (MEI) 2023 report. In 2020, OCP dominated 60% of the US market and over half of Africa’s, with its exports accounting for 20% of the country’s total exports that year, the report added.

Not their first: OCP raised USD 2 bn through a dual-tranche Eurobond last year to support the company’s USD 13 bn strategy to transition its industrial processes entirely to renewable energy by 2027.

There’s more: OCP’s Green Water subsidiary clinched MAD 6 bn (c. USD 620 mn) in a private placement arranged by Moroccan state-owned lender Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion (CDG) Group to bolster OCP’s desalination production capacity, according to a press release published last week. OCP aims to reach a capacity of 630 mn cbm of desalinated water annually by 2030.

Desalination is a balancing act: Desalination remains a highly energy-intensive process, although efforts to synergize it with solar and wind energy—in places like Morocco’s Agadir — do trim carbon emissions and costs. It may still be necessary to establish in Morocco, as the kingdom is now suffering a climate change-induced water crisis, with filling rates of water reserves dropping to 27.87% last August, extending a longstanding drought.

Tags: