Was this the quarter when the Middle East came of age in the capital markets? Issuance from the region is on track for an all-time record this year, and it’s not just volume that is catching the eye: there are new tenors, a fondness for lower-rated and debut credits, and an increasingly fervent bid for Islamic paper.
According to Dealogic, Middle East DCM hit $30.46 billion-equivalent in the first six months of this year, up from $26.2 billion in the same period of 2013 and just $13.13 billion during the first half of 2011. The market is already three-fifths of the way to the full-year record $50.79 billion set in 2012. “It’s tough to project,” says Salman Ansari, head of debt capital markets, Menap at Standard Chartered. “We were looking at a record last year, and then the markets shut for a few months. But if macro conditions and the rates cycle remain where they are, then things are looking positive.”
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| I see the phenomenon in the Middle East as similar to the emergence of a wider range of deals we have seen across the CEEMEA and LatAm regions Simon Ollerenshaw |
Record numbers are one thing, but one has to look a little deeper before making a claim of greater maturity in the markets.
