FAB priced its USD 500 mn five-year bond 25bp tighter than IPT — most of the way back to pre-war levels

The UAE’s biggest lender, First Abu Dhabi Bank, priced its USD 500 mn five-year senior unsecured bond at US Treasuries plus 90 basis points, Zawya reports. The bond carries a 5.456% coupon. Orders topped USD 1 bn, excluding joint lead manager interest, making it more than 2x oversubscribed. Pricing tightened 25bp from Tuesday's T+115bp initial price thoughts — a spread that is wider than the war’s March peak of 108bp.

The final pricing is good news for borrowers. The final print, at 90bp, is tighter than the war peak and most of the way back toward January's 79bp — the tightest UAE corporate spreads have been all year.

Why it matters: A single issuance doesn't reprice the whole UAE curve, but a 25bp compression on 2x-plus demand suggests an appetite recovery, even if the posted curve hasn’t caught up yet.

ADVISORS- Arab Bank, BofA Securities, Citi, FAB, HSBC, and ICBC Standard Bank are running FAB's book as joint lead managers and bookrunners, with Citi as the billing and delivery bank.

What's next: Mashreq and DP World, which have also tapped markets for their own issuances, haven't priced yet. If either clears with similar tightening, that's a positive signal that the post-summer debt rush could draw strong investor appetite. The Fed's 16 September decision is another big swing factor for where the curve heads from here, and we’ll be keeping an eye on it.