One of the Gulf's largest mall developers and exclusive franchisee of hypermarket chain Carrefour, Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) Holding has taken initial steps towards issuing bonds, a senior executive said.

The company did not elaborate on its plans for a potential bond sale, but three sources said it was in talks with a small group of banks to discuss the process of issuing debt.

'We have obtained credit ratings as the first step in our preparatory work to raise capital through a bond issue. We will announce further details in due course,' said Daniele Vecchi, senior vice president for group treasury at the firm in a statement to Reuters.

Dubai-based MAF's primary subsidiary is MAF Properties, which develops and manages shopping malls, hotels and master-planned communities across the Gulf. It plans to spend $3.5 billion upto 2015 on four new malls.

Two banking sources familiar with the matter said talks between the company and banks had started although no deal was currently being discussed.

'There is no deal in the pipeline but conversations are happening,' one of the source said.

MAF Holding was rated an investment grade BBB earlier this week by both Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's, with a stable outlook.

Non-government-related corporate regional issuers have struggled to tap global debt markets to raise cash since the global financial crisis, with high-rated state entities or sovereigns, and financial institutions dominating issuances.

A rare investment-grade corporate issue is therefore likely to attract investor interest.

'In the event that MAF Group were to come to the bond market with a deal at some stage, it would likely be well-received by investors given its investment grade ratings, business profile and track record,' said Chavan Bhogaita, head of markets strategy department at National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

'It would be one of the first high quality non-GRE corporates in Dubai to issue bonds in the market.'

The Group's total debt on December 31 was at Dh12.1 billion ($3.30 billion), according to the S&P ratings note, and Fitch noted that the company is due to refinance Dh5.5 billion in maturities in the next two years.

Named after its owner, a UAE billionaire businessman, MAF has embarked on an ambitious expansion plan, hoping to double its portfolio by 2015 with 14 new projects in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, the UAE, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Oman.-Reuters