Bahrain's Nogaholding Offers Cash For Sukuk, Plans New Issue

Nogaholding, Bahrain's state oil holding firm, wants to sell Islamic bonds in U.S. dollars. A bank document and filing reveal they also want to offer existing notes for cash. This news was released on Monday.

If nogaholding wants to execute the tender offer, they first need to finalize the new debt sale. This sale will include sukuk with a duration of either seven or 10 years. The tender offer is dependant on this sale being completed.

Nogaholding will purchase its $750 million bonds from 2018. They have conditions before doing so.

The company wants to manage its balance sheet and maturity profiles with the tender offer and new issuance. That's what the filing said.

Bank ABC, Citi, FAB, HSBC, JPMorgan, and National Bank of Bahrain will arrange investor calls for the new sukuk issue. The bank document shows they will have a global investor call on Monday. They plan to sell debt in this way.

Bondholders need to submit their paper by May 22. The filing states that pricing and distribution of new bonds will occur before the deadline.

Nogaholding earned $1.059 billion in profit last year. In 2021, they earned $466 million. In contrast, they suffered a net loss of $130 million in 2020. This information was shared in an investor presentation.

Boston Consulting Group is assisting the company. They are working on two strategies. One is a national energy strategy for Bahrain. The other is an operational strategy for nogaholding.

Mark Thomas, CEO of nogaholding, said in November to Reuters that the strategies would be decided in six months and implemented a year later.

Bahrain, a small oil producer with a low rating, has a lot of debt. Its fiscal deficit decreased by 81.3% to $474 million last year thanks to high oil prices. The information was presented to investors. Yousef Saba reported on it, and Kirsten Donovan and Mark Potter edited it.