Abu Dhabi is likely to issue an international bond in the next 6 to 12 months, a senior debt management official said.

'I expect we would come to the market within the next 6-12 months to refresh our benchmarks in the dollar market .....5 or 10-year would be the natural thing to do for us,' Lars Boman, senior adviser at Abu Dhabi's Debt Management Office, told a Euromoney conference.

The likely size would be 'at least a billion' dollars, he later told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.

Abu Dhabi is seen finding favour among investors as a safe haven due to unrest elsewhere in the Mena region.

The emirate is trying to curtail bond sales by state entities and centralise fundraising through the debt management office in a bid to crackdown on undisciplined issuance.

Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) held non-deal investor meetings last week and said it would coordinate any future issuance with the emirate's debt management office.

Its Tourism Development & Investment Co. (TDIC) has also appointed banks to sell bonds from its existing $3 billion bond programme, with roadshows planned in the last week of June or early July, sources told Reuters last week.-Reuters