Emirates NBD said it has successfully completed the inaugural issuance of offshore Chinese yuan 750 million ($118.8 million) fixed rate notes maturing in 2015 off their $7,500 million Medium Term Note programme.

This is the first ever Chinese yuan issuance by a Middle Eastern issuer, said a statement from Emirates NBD. The notes are rated A3 by Moody’s and A+ by Fitch and pay a fixed rate coupon of 4.875 per cent, it added.

The joint lead managers and bookrunners for the transactions were Emirates NBD Capital, HSBC Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.

Emirates NBD said it had announced investor meetings on February 22 with a two-day roadshow covering Hong Kong and Singapore.

Emirates NBD was represented on the roadshows by senior management who presented the group’s credit story during the meetings with high quality accounts across the region, which demonstrated strong interest in the credit.

The debut CNY issue saw diverse distribution by investor type with private banks allocated 43 per cent of the issue, fund managers & insurance 38 per cent, banks 8 per cent, hedge funds 5 per cent and the balance allocated to other types of investors.

The allocation per geography was: 57 per cent HK & China, 30 per cent Singapore, 5 per cent Taiwan, 7 per cent Europe and one per cent of Middle East.

Emirates NBD successfully achieved its issue objectives of opening a new market and diversifying further its funding profile.

This is the second issue by the Emirates NBD Group in 2012, following the Emirates Islamic Bank’s successful US Dollar benchmark Sukuk in January.-TradeArabia News Service