Qatar National Bank raising $1.38 billion with private bond

DUBAI: Qatar National Bank, the Gulf's largest bank, is raising $1.38 billion through a privately placed bond, a QNB spokesperson said on Tuesday.

The bond issue follows a recently priced private note of $1 billion. Sources told Reuters this week that Bank of America Merrill Lynch arranged the $1 billion debt sale.

The new private placement was upsized to $1.38 billion from the original amount of $1.3 billion, said the spokesperson.

Both the bonds, due in February 2020, pay 135 basis points over the three-month London Interbank Offered Rate.

QNB has recently used various types of debt instruments, including Kangaroo and Formosa bonds, to refill its coffers in an effort to diversify funding resources amid the embargo imposed on Qatar by other Arab states.