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Aabar to vote on $1.82bn bond issue

Abu Dhabi's Aabar Investments said on Wednesday that its shareholders would vote next month on plans to issue convertible bonds worth up to 6.7 billion dirhams ($1.82 billion) to a strategic investor.

Shareholders would meet on August 3 and also vote on a proposal to issue up to 30 million dirhams of convertible bonds to current and future employees, it said in a statement on the Abu Dhabi bourse website.
The shareholders would vote on issuing bonds "convertible into shares in the maximum aggregate principal amount of 6.7 billion dirhams to be determined by the board, at a conversion price into shares to be issued by the strategic investor," Aabar said.

It said the issue would carry a coupon equivalent to three months Emirates Interbank Offered Rate plus a spread.

Aabar did not name the potential investor. Aabar is partly owned by the Abu Dhabi government but allows foreigners to hold up to 40 percent of its stock.

The company said on May its chief executive officer had resigned to join Mubadala Development Co, after the state-owned company bought 90 percent of Aabar's Pearl Energy unit, generating an estimated profit of $100 million.

That month, it also said that part of the proceeds from the sale of Pearl would go toward the early redemption in full of its Islamic bond, or sukuk, certificates while the rest would fund new investments.

Abaar fully redeemed $460 million of debt maturing in 2010 this month. (Reuters)

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