Abu Dhabi counters oil slump with $10 bln bond sale

Abu Dhabi has raised USD 10 billion (8.5 billion euros) in a rare international bond sale, it said today, amid efforts by Gulf states to plug deficits caused by low oil prices.
It was just the second bond sale by the emirate, which has the Gulf's largest sovereign wealth fund, since oil prices slumped in mid-2014.
Abu Dhabi's finance department said the bonds were issued in three tranches maturing in five, 10 and 30 years, with interest ranging from 2.5 to just over four percent.
The richest of seven sheikhdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi sits on the bulk of the federation's oil wealth.

In May last year, it raised USD 5 billion with its first bond sale in seven years.
Almost all the oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council states, including OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia, have resorted to debt markets to finance budget shortfalls since an oil price collapse slashed their revenues by hundreds of billions of dollars.
Last week, Saudi Arabia raised USD 12.5 billion from an international bond sale.