UAE's Taqa to sell $1.13bn of convertible bonds

BOND SALE: Taqa plans foreign investments with funds raised from the sale of convertible bonds. (Getty images)

Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (Taqa), an Arab utility and petroleum producer, said on Wednesday it plans to sell 4.15 billion dirhams ($1.13 billion) of convertible bonds during the next two months.

It will be the first time the state-controlled UAE firm has sold convertible bonds as its owner, the Abu Dhabi government, capitalises on record oil earnings to invest billions of dollars on foreign acquisitions to diversify its economy.

Taqa said last week shareholders of the company, which last year agreed on $11 billion of acquisitions, from Canada to India, would meet to discuss the proposal. It did not say when it would sell the bonds.

It last tapped the debt market in October, selling $2 billion of bonds.

"Sometime in the next 60 days we plan to go to the market," Chief Financial Officer Doug Fraser told reporters at the shareholder meeting in Abu Dhabi. "It can be used to refinance existing debt," Fraser said.

Taqa Chief Executive Peter Barker-Homek said in December the company might sell convertible bonds this year to finance buyouts. Last month, Taqa said it was delaying a decision to sell the securities.

The company plans to triple the value of its assets to $60 billion by the end of 2012, from about $21 billion at the end of last year.

Taqa in November won Canadian approval to buy PrimeWest Energy Trust for C$5 billion ($4.98 billion) and the Canadian unit of Pioneer Natural Resource Co for $540 million.

The government of Abu Dhabi, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, owns 75% of Taqa. The rest is publicly traded. (Reuters)

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