During a meeting on Sunday, NBD’s shareholders unanimously approved the issue of bonus shares in the ratio of one for every five held (1:5) with the date of claim set to be November 20, 2005. Accordingly, all investors holding NBD shares will be at close of trading on November 17, 2005, will be entitled to receive one fully paid, ordinary share for every five held by November 27, 2005.
Furthermore, the EGM approved issuing a debut bond in the international capital markets, having mandated Bank of America and HSBC to act as joint lead managers and book runners. It is expected that this will be a benchmark sized floating rate issue, with a maturity of 5 years. It is likely that the bond will be formally launched by the end of November. Aiming to achieve a strong take-up by investors outside the Middle East, senior management from the Bank will be undertaking a road show in the course of the next two weeks to visit investors in Asia and Europe.
As part of this process the Bank has taken key steps to ensure that it will achieve greatest benefit and maintain a strong long-term presence in the market. In the first place, as was previously announced, it has acquired international long-term credit ratings of A1 and A from Moody's and Standard & Poor's respectively (the highest ratings that these agencies award to Dubai-based banks).
Simultaneously, National Bank of Dubai has also established a US$ 1.0 billion Euro Medium Term Note Programme, which will provide the platform for multiple and ongoing bond issuance over time. The programme is to be listed on the London Stock Exchange, as is the inaugural bond issue.
"This is a significant step forward for National Bank of Dubai in terms of diversifying our investor base and developing a diversified funding platform," stated Douglas Dowie, CEO, National Bank of Dubai. "We are excited about taking our credit story onto the road and fully expect the bond issue to be a major success."
