Citi has been among the top four bookrunners on global debt issuance so far this year. A small but colourful contributor to its tally, adding another dimension to 'global', was its sole bookrunning mandate on the first ever international bond out of Bangladesh.
Unusually, the debut was staged not by the sovereign but by a corporate issuer. In a number of otherwise daunting frontier markets, wireless telecoms has the power to seize investors’ attention and this is no less true in Bangladesh. It was this very focused appeal that allowed Banglalink to issue $300m of senior unsecured, five-year non-call three notes.
