No bond from MAF for now

UAE mall developer Majid Al Futtaim Holding (MAF), which began investor meetings last week, will not after all issue a bond due to market volatility, two sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

MAF, which is also the sole franchisee for French hypermarket chain Carrefour in the Gulf, set up a $2 billion bond programme in June.

"Markets are definitively not conducive as volatility is extremely high," said a source close to the company, who declined to be identified.

A senior company executive said last week the firm was keeping a close eye on Europe's debt crisis to assess demand for a five-year benchmark-sized bond.

But uncertainty around the Greek debt crisis in particular has deterred many emerging market investors.

The UAE's Dolphin Energy, also on the road for a bond earlier this month, said on Tuesday it would delay issuing one until market conditions improved.

Two fixed-income market sources said MAF would, at the minimum, have to price wider than the Dubai sovereign, which came in at 375 basis points over midswaps earlier this month.

They indicated that more than 400 basis points over midswaps was not an unreasonable expectation from the first-time issuer.

"They're very price sensitive," said a source at a lead arranger. Roadshows were arranged by Barclays, Credit Agricole, HSBC and Standard Chartered.

A religious holiday in the Gulf region on Thursday also meant there was little scope for a bond issue this week.

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