DP World plans dollar bond

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, Deutsche Bank, Emirates NBD, HSBC, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Societe Generale, with the caveat that the group could change prior to the announcement of the deal, with potentially more lenders added.

The same six banks are on the company’s base prospectus for its $5 billion global medium term note programme, an update of which was published on April 13.

A spokeswoman for DP World didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.-Reuters