DUBAI Nov 11 (Reuters) – Aluminium Bahrain
(Alba), owner of one of the world’s largest smelters of the
lightweight metal, will start the process for a potential bond
sale in the first quarter of 2016, the company’s chief executive
said on Wednesday.

In June, the state-backed company received government
approval to raise its annual output by 514,000 tonnes to 1.45
million tones via a $3.5 billion plant expansion.

Sources had told Reuters Alba was considering various
options to fund this expansion including loans, export credit
agency finance and a capital markets transaction.

Alba hopes to issue a bond, CEO Tim Murray told a conference
call to accompany its third-quarter results.

“I don’t think the (bond) offering will be in Q1 (2016) but
in terms of getting the process going it will be in Q1,” said
Murray.

He said he thought there was ample market liquidity for Alba
to issue a bond, but declined to say how much the company was
looking to raise.

“In terms of the (timing of the) actual issuance I’ll leave
that to JP Morgan as our advisors,” said Murray.

In August, Alba said it would seek a credit rating ahead of
talks to fund its expansion, but Murray revealed the company had
yet to approach ratings agencies.

Alba reported a 70 percent drop in third-quarter profit on
Wednesday that it blamed on a slump in prices.

(Reporting by Matt Smith; Editing by Yara Bayoumy)

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