Arab Energy Fund gets nod to issue $1.4bn ‘panda bonds’

The Arab Energy Fund (TAEF), formerly known as Apicorp, has received approval from Chinese regulators to raise up to 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) via so-called panda bonds.

The funds will be secured over two years through multiple tranches, TAEF said in a statement.

TAEF said it was the “first multilateral financial institution in the Middle East and North Africa to secure approval from the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors to issue panda bonds”.

Panda bonds are yuan-denominated securities issued by non-Chinese borrowers.

Access to China’s domestic bond market provides a stable, direct source of yuan-denominated loans, supporting long-term capital planning, TAEF said.

”The approval allows us to further diversify our funding sources by tapping into a deep pool of Chinese investors,” said the fund’s chief financial officer, Vicky Bhatia. 

Further reading:

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• Asian investors flock to Gulf debt in hunt for yield and growth
• UAE banks lean on fees as lending margins narrow

TAEF was established in 1975 by 10 Arab oil-exporting countries: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Libya, Iraq, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt and Syria.

In September the fund said net income rose 7 percent to $129 million in the first half of 2025, driven by a surge in project funding.

Total funding increased 17 percent to $8.4 billion, while assets rose 15 percent to $12 billion.