Abu Dhabi-based telecoms operator Etisalat raised €1 billion ($1.21bn) through the issue of new, euro-denominated bonds, the company said on Sunday.
The UAE's biggest telecoms operator issued €500 million of seven-year and €500m of 12-year bonds under its existing $10bn Euro Medium Term Note programme, the company said in a statement to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares trade. The proceeds will be used to repay a €1.2 billion bond that matures in June, it added.
“The bonds issuance was completed after conducting roadshows with international investors on 4 and 5 May,” Etisalat said.
The dual-tranche issue was more than six times oversubscribed, it added.
The seven-year tranche offers an annual interest rate of 0.4 per cent, while the 12-year tranche has a coupon rate of 1 per cent.
HSBC, BNP Paribas, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Societe Generale acted as global coordinators for the bond issue, according to Reuters.
Etisalat, which increased its foreign ownership limit from 20 per cent to 49 per cent in January to attract more external investors, reported a 3.8 per cent rise in net profit to Dh9.03bn last year despite a marginal decline in revenue.
The telecoms operator, which was established more than four decades ago and has its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, has 149 million subscribers in 16 countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Sixty per cent of the company is owned by the Emirates Investment Authority, while the remainder is floated on the ADX.
Companies and governments across the region have taken advantage of record low interest rates to arrange low-cost financing in debt markets.
In the first quarter of the year, debt issuance from the Middle East and North Africa jumped 61 per cent to $34.8bn, the highest amount in a single quarter since records began in 1980, Refinitiv said in its Mena Investment Banking review last month.
Earlier this month, Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, or Taqa, raised $1.5bn through a dual-tranche bond issue to fund its low-carbon growth plans and buy back some of its outstanding corporate bonds.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Tori Amos
Native Invader
Decca
So what is Spicy Chickenjoy?
Just as McDonald’s has the Big Mac, Jollibee has Spicy Chickenjoy – a piece of fried chicken that’s crispy and spicy on the outside and comes with a side of spaghetti, all covered in tomato sauce and topped with sausage slices and ground beef. It sounds like a recipe that a child would come up with, but perhaps that’s the point – a flavourbomb combination of cheap comfort foods. Chickenjoy is Jollibee’s best-selling product in every country in which it has a presence.
WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
J%20Street%20Polling%20Results
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Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
SPEC SHEET
Display: 10.4-inch IPS LCD, 400 nits, toughened glass
CPU: Unisoc T610; Mali G52 GPU
Memory: 4GB
Storage: 64GB, up to 512GB microSD
Camera: 8MP rear, 5MP front
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C, 3.5mm audio
Battery: 8200mAh, up to 10 hours video
Platform: Android 11
Audio: Stereo speakers, 2 mics
Durability: IP52
Biometrics: Face unlock
Price: Dh849
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The five pillars of Islam
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Company%20Profile
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Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
PROFILE
Name: Enhance Fitness
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 200
Amount raised: $3m
Investors: Global Ventures and angel investors
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
