Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises the State of Kuwait on the establishment of its GMTN programme and debut dual-tranche US$8 billion issuance

International law firm Clifford Chance has advised the State of Kuwait, acting through the Ministry of Finance and represented by the Kuwait Investment Authority, on the establishment of its Global Medium Term Note (GMTN) programme and Kuwait's inaugural dual-tranche, US dollar-denominated international debt capital markets issuance thereunder.

The dual-tranche issuance comprises of US$3.5billion 2.75% notes due 2022 and US$4.5 billion 3.50% notes due 2027. The notes were issued on 20 March 2017. The proceeds from the debt-raising enable Kuwait to meet a significant portion of its expected funding needs for this year. The bonds were offered and sold in reliance on Rule 144A and Regulation S and were admitted to trading on the Irish Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
The programme establishment and the dual-tranche issuance thereunder follow a spate of other recent sovereign issuances in the Middle East. Kuwait's issuance comes only weeks after the Sultanate of Oman finalised its US$5 billion triple-tranche offering, on which Clifford Chance also advised.
Stuart Ure, Clifford Chance partner who led the team, added: "With the establishment of Kuwait's programme and the jumbo dual-tranche issuance thereunder, Clifford Chance continues to build on our track record in sovereign capital markets transactions. We are delighted with the success of the inaugural offering by the State of Kuwait which is testament to the efforts of the entire working group involved on the transaction."
The Clifford Chance team was led on English law matters by partner Stuart Ure, based in Dubai, supported by senior associate Rafe Khokhar, and on US law matters by partner John Connolly, supported by senior associate Carolyn Tan and associate Rachel Mazzarella. ASAR advised the State of Kuwait on Kuwaiti law matters.
Citigroup, HSBC and J.P. Morgan acted as the arrangers and joint lead managers and Deutsche Bank, NBK Capital and Standard Chartered Bank acted as dealers and joint lead managers.