Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Bank (SocGen) was mandated as a bookrunner and joint lead manager for National Bank of Abu Dhabi’s inaugural USD-denominated Tier 1 $75o million offering.

The perpetual bond issue was Societe Generale’s first bond mandate from NBAD and its first Tier 1 bond mandate in the Middle East

“We are extremely pleased to have been awarded such a high-profile mandate,” said Richad Soundardjee, Societe Generale chief executive officer, Middle East.

“It is a further testimony of the level of credibility our investment banking platform has reached in the region. It is also another win for our newly formed Structured Finance team, which includes Debt Capital Markets, based on the ground in Dubai.”

Societe Generale is pursuing an ambitious growth strategy for the Middle East, in line with a five-year development plan launched in 2014. This is translating into allocation of capital and the development of dedicated teams in the region, whose areas of speciality include Islamic Finance, Custody, Asset Management, and Brokerage services.

The group last month completed the establishment of a Structured Finance platform to serve the region, adding locally-based specialists in project finance, export finance, asset finance and debt capital markets in line with the bank’s ambition to become a partner of choice for regional Corporates, Financial Institutions, and Sovereigns in its areas of global expertise.

The NBAD mandate is the latest in a number of recent bond issuances that Societe Generale has successfully executed. These include DP World’s $500 million five-year bond (2015) and Aabar EUR2 billion ($2.26 billion) exchangeable bond (2015). – TradeArabia News Service