The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) has launched a 15-year Uridashi bond worth US$16.6 million (AED 60.1 million), which is the first of its kind from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and allowed NBAD to directly access Japanese retail investors.

This issue follows the first ever Samurai bond by a Middle Eastern financial institution which NBAD issued in 2011.
“We welcome the support of Japanese institutional and retail investors in the NBAD credit story and look forward to building stronger ties with investors in Japan in the coming years,” says Stephen Jordan, the Group Treasurer of NBAD.

Uridashi notes are foreign-denominated bonds sold to retail investors. Being denominated in foreign currencies may afford investors higher interest rates than yen-denominated bonds. This latest note, denominated in Mexican peso (MXN), is distributed in Japan under NBAD’s recently established shelf registration in Japan.

“This groundbreaking issuance again shows the commitment that NBAD has to building a truly global debt platform and to continue to diversify our funding base and extend the liability profile,” added Mr. Jordan.

NBAD is rated senior long term/short term A+/A-1 by Standard & Poor’s (S&P), Aa3/P1 by Moody’s, AA-/F1+ by Fitch and A+ by Rating and Investment Information Inc (R&I), giving it the strongest combined rating of any Middle Eastern financial institution. Moreover, since 2009, the prestigious Global Finance has rated NBAD in its World’s 50 Safest Banks, and is the highest ranked Middle East bank in the list.

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