DUBAI: Emirates NBD (ENBD), Dubai’s largest lender, plans to sell a benchmark-sized capital-boosting bond, a document from lead managers said on Monday, looking to take advantage of favourable markets to strengthen its reserves.

ENBD has chosen Citi­group, Commerzbank, Deut­sche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered and its own investment banking arm to arrange investor meetings ahead of a potential issue, the document said, confirming what banking sources told Reuters earlier on Monday.

The US dollar-denominated bond, which will boost the bank’s Tier 1 — or core — capital, will have a perpetual tenor which can only be redeemed by the bank after six years and be of benchmark size — traditionally understood to mean worth upwards of $500 million.

ENBD was taking the opportunity to secure higher quality Tier 1 capital after repaying all its UAE Ministry of Finance capital support earlier this year.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd , 2014