Port operator DP World sells $1.5 bln in perpetual sukuk

Port operator DP World sold $1.5 billion in perpetual sukuk at 6.125 percent, a document showed on Wednesday, which it will use for general corporate purposes, including refinancing debt.

DP World, which operates ports around the world from Buenos Aires to Hong Kong, received more than $3.8 billion in orders for the debt sale and tightened the yield after it began marketing the sukuk at 6.625 percent earlier on Wednesday.

The company had indicated it was seeking between $500 million and $750 million on an investor call, one source said, but increased the size after receiving strong demand.

The Islamic bonds are non-callable for fiva-and-a-half years. Perpetual bonds are similar to an equity instrument in that they have no maturity date.

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DP World, rated Baa3 by Moody’s and BBB- by Fitch, is also considering issuing benchmark perpetual euro-denominated bonds with a six-year non-call period, a separate bank document showed when the banks on the sukuk deal were announced on Monday.

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The sukuk deal was arranged by Citi, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, Credit Agricole, Samba Financial Group, Scotiabank, Standard Chartered, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Commercial Bank of Dubai.

Ahead of the issuance, Moody’s assigned the sukuk and proposed bonds a rating of Ba2, two notches below DP World’s rating.

“They will be deeply subordinated to the senior unsecured obligations of DP World and its subsidiaries and rank senior only to ordinary shares,” it said.

However, Moody’s said it viewed the transaction as credit positive, although modestly.