Syndicated loans vs. fixed income instrument: What is the instrument of choice for 2019?

Loan market across GCC is expected to suffer during the rest of this year due to exceptionally excellent market conditions for fixed income instruments. But don't take my word for it.

Dealogic data shows that year to date loan volumes across emerging Europe, the Middle East and Africa dropped 62 % in 2019 compared with 2018, with 174 deals in 2018 versus 69 ones in 2019.

The cost of funding on bonds has gone down for borrowers this year. In the last two months in Saudi Arabia, borrowers from different sectors: Almarai, one of the largest regional dairy companies, and Saudi Telecoms Company (STC), have entered the sukuk market.

Some Borrowers now have the ability to be aggressive with their pricing in the bond market – STC pursued an aggressive pricing stra...