Gulf Bond and Sukuk Association

Saudi Arabia's state airports operator has picked three banks to arrange the second tranche of its local Islamic bond programme, banking sources said on Tuesday, with a sale seen matching the firm's record-breaking $4 billion debut Sukuk in 2012.

DUBAI: Bahrain has picked four banks to arrange investor meetings ahead of a potential sovereign bond issue, a document from lead managers said yesterday, with proceeds likely to be used to plug an expected budget deficit for 2013.

Dubai is back with the big plans. What it doesn’t have are the biggest property investors. Surging home prices in parts of Dubai and rebounding shopping and tourism markets are prompting developers to announce projects on a scale not seen since the emirate’s property market collapsed in 2008.

Middle East bond prices will probably drop 3 percent to 4 percent in the second half of this year on expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut asset purchases, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc’s wealth unit said.

Qatar Railways announced four design and build contracts worth QR30bn ($8.24bn) for Phase-1 of the ‘Doha Metro Project’ in early June, capping a year of mega project financings. The scope of work for the RLN comprises the design and construction of 13km twin bored tunnel, including seven underground

Bloomberg/Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Investment Co plans to sell bonds to repay part of a $2bn loan due in September, taking advantage of narrowing spreads between its debt and US Treasury notes that reached new lows last month.

Less than three years after it was criticized for endorsing policies that deepened economic disparity under Arab autocrats, the International Monetary Fund is lending more money to the region than ever.

DUBAI: State-owned Islamic Bank of Thailand plans to increase its capital by 7.11 billion baht (US$234.9mil) and issue a 5 billion baht sukuk, the country's first-ever Islamic bond, the bank said yesterday.

$2.7bn bond package released several days ago on Irish stock market