Pricier debt pushes regional issuers into AED, offshore RMB, and JOD sukuk

Debt is costing more in the region, and issuers are looking outside the usual USD playbook for it. UAE banks are advertising up to 5.6% on new deposits as credit growth outruns deposits and the monetary base sits c. 13.5% below where it was when the war began. Emirates Islamic is marketing a sukuk 20 bps wider than its last, FAB has printed in AED, Mashreq is testing offshore RMB, and Amman is raising JOD 400 mn in Jordan’s first municipal sukuk.

MNT-Halan’s private placement closed 11.2x oversubscribed, with foreign institutions taking most of the book. More than 300 investors across more than 10 countries — multiple GCC states, the UK, France, Switzerland, South Africa, and Egypt — bid for the 272 mn shares on offer at EGP 24.5, according to a statement seen by EnterpriseAM.

SOUND SMART- Excluding cornerstones CIB and London’s Redwheel, which were allocated more than a third of the base offering between them, the institutional book was more than 19x covered.

Why it matters: MNT and Banque du Caire are the two most interesting IPOs Egypt has put up in more than a decade. If this one works, it re-opens the window and marks us as a stable destination for equity investors who have given us the cold shoulder for most of 15 years.

It held through a bad weekend. A Houthi attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport killed 13 and injured more than 300 — the kind of thing that historically sends foreign money to the exit and costs bankers their nerve. That MNT and BdC were in the market at all during a hot war in the Gulf was already striking. Retail subscriptions close tomorrow, and trading starts 20 October.

UAE banks are paying up for deposits as lending outruns funding. FAB is offering 5.6% on new savings deposits through December, up from 4% in its last campaign, and Emirates NBD as much as 5.5% on some larger new deposits, Bloomberg reports, citing advertised offers and Central Bank of the UAE data. Credit grew 18.1% y-o-y in 2Q against roughly 14% for deposits, taking the loan-to-deposit ratio above 80% from 77.7% in 2025. In February, UAE lenders were sitting on comfortable loan-to-deposit ratios. By June, analysts were warning that liquidity pressure was building. Public-sector borrowing for infrastructure, including the “Zero Hormuz” push to bypass the strait, is keeping credit demand strong.

What tightened: The monetary base has fallen c. 13.5% since the war began, Jefferies’ Naresh Bilandani estimates. Liquidity support the central bank introduced early in the war expired in September, and banks that tapped it now have to repay, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Edmond Christou says. Gulf money has also gone into an Indian program for non-resident USD deposits that raised c. USD 130 bn.

Margins are the next read: Lenders are paying a liquidity premium for fresh deposits, Bloomberg Intelligence says, which narrows spreads unless loan pricing keeps up.

Emirates Islamic drew more than USD 1.2 bn of orders on a USD 500 mn sukuk in a day. Books opened yesterday on the five-year, and demand excluding lead managers already matches its last offering’s full book, Zawya reports, citing IFR data. Initial guidance is 115bp over US Treasuries. The Fitch-rated A+ lender is issuing fixed-rate, senior unsecured notes under its USD 4 bn certificate issuance program.

REMEMBER- It raised USD 500 mn through a sustainability-linked sukuk in September 2025, priced at 4.54%, or 95bp over Treasuries, on USD 1.2 bn of orders. Initial guidance is 20 bps wider than where that priced, though guidance usually tightens as books build. The backdrop is tougher: Gulf bond and sukuk issuance fell 17.5% in 3Q as higher borrowing costs bit.

ADVISORS- Our friends at Mashreq are joined by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Arab Bank, Citi, Emirates NBD Capital, ICBC, KFH Capital, and Standard Chartered as joint lead managers and bookrunners.

Two of the UAE’s biggest lenders are going around the USD this week. FAB has priced its first benchmark-sized, digitally native green bond in AED rather than USD, Zawya reports. The three-year notes came at 75 bps over the three-year AED swap rate and settle tomorrow, with size and coupon still undisclosed. The Reg S notes are expected to list on the ADX, rated Aa3/AA-/AA- in line with FAB’s issuer ratings. Emirates NBD Capital, HSBC, ICBC (Asia), and Standard Chartered ran the books alongside FAB.

Why it matters: Gulf bank green paper is almost always printed in USD and listed offshore. A benchmark-sized AED green bond listed at home adds depth to a domestic market that has so far been thin and sets a reference point on the local swap curve.

Mashreq is going east instead. Our friends at Mashreq have mandated banks for investor calls on a three-year Dim Sum bond, Zawya reports separately, citing IFR, with arrangers, size, and guidance all unannounced. Gulf issuers have dipped into offshore renminbi since Emirates NBD became one of the region’s first last December, and a firmer CNH has moved the market from niche channel toward mainstream option.

Amman is about to become the first city in Jordan to borrow directly. Cabinet approved a JOD 400 mn (USD 564.2 mn) five-year sukuk for the Greater Amman Municipality on Sunday, paying 5.5% a year under a lease-to-own ijara structure and tradable on the Amman Stock Exchange. It is the first tranche of a program worth up to JOD 1 bn, managed by the Central Bank of Jordan and aimed at banks, insurers, and savings, investment, and pension funds. The prospectus is due within days, and two JOD 300 mn tranches are expected to follow.

The pitch is cheaper money. Proceeds will restructure the municipality’s budget and fund new infrastructure at a lower cost, saving the city about JOD 70 mn over five years on the government’s estimate, or JOD 140 mn over 10.

This isn’t the first municipal debt issuance in the region. Agadir issued Morocco’s first municipal bond in 2022, and the Casablanca-Settat region followed in April 2026, both with EBRD-anchored MAD 1 bn deals and come as the country push for municipalities to take on localized debt to finance World Cup 2030 infrastructure.

Adnoc L&S is in talks for a stake in an Abu Dhabi offshore services firm at up to USD 3 bn. The stake in HEA Energy could be a minority or a controlling one, and the talks could still fall through, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people it says are familiar with the matter. Founded in 2022, HEA runs self-elevating barges for offshore wind and oil and gas maintenance, and its revenue more than doubled this year to about USD 100 mn.

It would extend a buying pattern. Adnoc L&S’ acquisition of Zakher Marine in 2022 added 24 jack-up barges and 38 offshore support vessels on undisclosed terms, and in January 2025 it closed a USD 1.04 bn purchase of 80% of Navig8, adding 32 tankers and widening its international footprint.

A water management firm is building a tokenized water market out of Dubai. AquaIndex, working with the Dubai Multi Commodities Center, expects its platform to go live in 4Q 2026 with an initial pool of up to 11 bn barrels drawn from a regulated US aquifer and valued at c. USD 5 bn, or about USD 0.45 a barrel.

How it works. Each token is a blockchain-recorded receipt for a set volume of water held at a certified reservoir. Holders can sell on the platform or swap the token for physical water at designated stations, AquaIndex says.

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Kuwait’s Al Mazaya Holding wants off the DFM. The real estate company’s board has recommended delisting from Dubai and consolidating onto its home exchange, subject to shareholder approval at the general assembly, according to a company disclosure (pdf).

Syrian healthtech Alo Hakeem has raised a USD 165k pre-seed led by EBLA Ventures, Wamda reports.

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