In March 2011, Crédit Agricole CIB was mandated as joint bookrunner alongside BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Santander and Unicredit on a benchmark EUR and GBP bond issuance by IPIC (International Petroleum Investment Company). Its objective was to raise EUR and GBP funds.

There was significant interest in the transaction with orders from 450 accounts quickly reaching a book of EUR 7.5 billion split across the 5-year and 10-year and GBP 1 billion for the 15-year tranche. The main investor geographies represented in the EUR tranches included the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and the Middle East with asset managers dominating both EUR tranches. As expected, the GBP tranche was placed mostly in the United Kingdom, and the investor book dominated by asset managers.

This transaction was successful for several reasons:

• it was the largest ever multi currency transaction from the emerging markets and was marketed at a time where there was notable unrest in the wider Middle East,
•  finally, it was the first benchmark transaction from the Middle East in 2011 with all potential issuers in the region closely monitoring the outcome of the transaction.

This transaction further strengthens the relationship between the Bank and IPIC. This also represents a landmark deal for Crédit Agricole CIB Gulf teams and Debt and Credit Markets teams. Actually, this is the Bank's first Debt & Credit Markets mandate with an Abu Dhabi government owned entity.

IPIC is an Abu Dhabi government owned company with a focused mandate of development and diversification of Abu Dhabi’s core hydrocarbon based economy.