National Bank Of Abu Dhabi News

BP's oil trading business, one of the biggest in the sector, reported a rare loss in the fourth quarter after it lost a $70 million lawsuit over an oil cargo delivered to a Moroccan refinery. BP's Chief Financial Officer Brian Gilvary said due to flat trading positions ahead of a crucial OPEC meeting at the end of November, and the lawsuit, the company's oil trading division made a "small loss" in the fourth quarter. "There was a natural inclination to flatten up all of the books and there was also an adverse court ruling against us which is a $70 million hit," he told analysts on Tuesday.

National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri), the exclusive oil-shipper for Saudi Aramco, said on Wednesday it had signed a $350 million Islamic 10-year financing deal to pay for the building of five oil tankers. The 10-year murahaba financing was arranged by Standard Chartered, which also contributed to the deal along with Arab National Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi, it said. A murabaha is a cost-plus-profit arrangement which complies with Islamic finance standards. The tankers were previously ordered from South Korea's Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co. (Reporting by Reem Shamseddine; Writing by Tom Arnold)

Dubai-based ports operator DP World launched a seven-year $1.2 billion sukuk issue on Tuesday, a document from lead managers showed. The issue, structured to be compliant with rules allowing investors in the United States to participate, will price at 237.5 basis points over midswaps, according to the document. This is significantly inside the initial pricing guidance of between 262.5 bps and 275 bps over the same benchmark given earlier in the day, indicating strong investor demand. The transaction will be used to fund the part-repurchase of DP World's $1.5 billion sukuk which is due to mature in 2017, for which preliminary results of a tender offer announced on Tuesday showed investor demand had significantly outstripped the firm's original plan to buy back half of the paper.

DUBAI, May 11 (Reuters) - Dubai's DP World has released initial price guidance for a $500 million bond expected to be sold on Tuesday, a document from lead managers showed. The deal is earmarked to price in the area of 180 basis points over midswaps. Roadshows for the transaction concluded on Sunday. Barclays, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, HSBC, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Societe Generale are arranging the transaction. (Reporting by Archana Narayanan

DP World, one of the world's biggest port operators, wants to issue a dollar-denominated bond and could announce plans to market the deal to fixed-income investors as soon as next week, three sources aware of the matter said on Thursday. The Dubai-based firm could raise between $750 million and $1 billion from the bond, depending on investor appetite and the interest rate the company would have to pay to borrow the money, two of the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the information isn't public. The firm is likely to issue long term bonds, with a lifespan of ten years possible, the two sources added. One of these sources said the banks arranging the deal were Citigroup…

DP World took advantage of strong market conditions and scarcity value to raise a $1 billion convertible bond with a ten year lifespan on Thursday, in order to fund growth opportunities and diversify its funding sources. The issue is a rare example of an international convertible bond from a Middle Eastern company and comes at a time when convertible bonds have drawing investors' attention following a spate of issuance by European firms. Pricing for DP World's debut convertible…

Dubai's DP World plans to raise $1 billion with a convertible bond issue of 10 years duration on Thursday to fund growth opportunities and diversify its funding sources, the Dubai-based ports operator said in a statement. The issue is a rare example of an international convertible bond from a Middle Eastern issuer, but comes at a time of spiking convertible issuance among European corporates. DP World's debut convertible issue is expected to pay a coupon in a range of 1.5 to 2 percent, and will have a conversion premium between 35 and 40 percent above the reference share price, the bourse filing said. The reference price will be set according to the volume-weighted average price between the start and close of trading of DP World shares on Thursday.

International law firm Watson, Farley & Williams Asia Practice LLP (WFW) said it advised a joint venture involving M3nergy and PT Transamudra as sponsors on a $182 million term facility and $38.4 million guarantee facility. The funds will finance the floating production, storage and offloading facility named FPSO Ratu Nusantara. The FPSO Ratu Nusantara is scheduled for operation by Petronas Carigali in the Bukit Tua oil and gas field in the Ketapang block, offshore Madura Island, East Java, Indonesia. Partner Andrew Nimmo led the WFW Asia Practice team for this deal, assisted by senior associate Shawn Er. M3nergy is an emerging exploration and production company headquartered in Malaysia.

Senior executives from the region’s largest ports and shipping organisations, including ADPC (Abu Dhabi Ports Company) and DP World, took to the stage today (Tuesday 29 March) at the World Ports and Trade Summit. Tony Douglas, CEO, ADPC (Abu Dhabi Ports Company), joined Dirk Van Den Bosch, Chief Commercial Officer, DP World and Peter Ford, CEO, Port of Salalah, Oman in discussing the future challenges and opportunities for the Middle East ports and trade sector. The consensus was that customer service…

Recognising the vital role of the UAE’s ports in providing trade links between the Far East, Asia, Europe and the US, international shipping and cargo experts are set to gather in Abu Dhabi on 28-30 March, for the World Ports and Trade Summit 2011. Across the emirates, a number of port developments are moving forward as global trade gathers renewed momentum and investment capital again begins to flow post-recession. The economic and social imperatives of securing export and import routes for food and oil respectively are important drivers of the UAE’s rejuvenated ports investment.

Recognising the vital role of the region’s ports in providing trade links between the Far East, Asia, Europe and the US, international shipping and cargo experts are set to gather in Abu Dhabi on 28-30 March, for the World Ports and Trade Summit 2011. Multi-billion dollar investment in port operations across the Middle East is again surging forward in the post-recessionary environment, including Saudi Arabia, where total port throughput, increased almost 10% for the twelve months to the end of Q3 2010, according to figures released by the Saudi Ports Authority.

Over the last two years, credit markets have experienced contraction, deleveraging and reduced liquidity, and governments have taken highly significant measures in response to such events. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators are authorized to take extraordinary actions in the event of market emergencies, and may affect changes in law or interpretations of existing laws. Shipping Finance has evolved with commercial market trends. Today, in response to asset value reduction, the sector requires bullish resilience - assessing the market outlook, exploring the latest capital raising methods and evaluating the emerging business models.

“Liquidity has come back to some extent,” said Oliver Ebner, Senior Manager, Project and Structured Finance for the National Bank of Abu Dhabi. Ebner is one of a panel of speakers lined up to address a special session on financing the industry in the global economic slowdown at Middle East Money & Ships, the region’s premier networking event for senior executives from the maritime and finance sectors. The conference from 7-8 October 2009 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Dubai, will also assess the continued appetite for investment in shipping, the likely pattern for recovery, where the money will come from as well as providing a realistic assessment of the current order book.