QNB received $4.6bn in bids for its $1bn bond sale that closed on Tuesday, a banker familiar with the deal said.Forty-four percent of the investors in the five-year notes were from the Middle East, 18% from Asia, 16% from the UK, 14% from Europe, 6% from the US, the banker said, declining to be identified because the information is private. Banks bought 38% of the bonds, fund managers 18%, hedge funds 18%, central banks 12%, pension and insurance funds 8% and private banks 6%, according to the banker.The notes pay a 3.375% coupon, or a spread of 235 basis points, 2.35 percentage points, above the benchmark mid-swap rate, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Meanwhile, Global credit rating agency Fitch has assigned an expected ‘A+’ (exp) rating on QNB’s debt issue.The final rating on the senior fixed rate note issue would be contingent upon the receipt of final documents conforming to information already received, said a Fitch spokesman.The rating agency has also simultaneously assigned a final long-term rating of ‘A+’ and short-term rating of ‘F1’ to QNB’s $7.5bn medium term note (MTN) programme.The proposed five-year senior fixed rate notes would be issued under the MTN programme. The issuer is QNB Finance; a Cayman Islands registered company, wholly owned by QNB. The notes will be “unconditionally and irrevocably” guaranteed by QNB.The rating of the senior notes and the programme were driven by QNB’s long-term issue default rating (IDR) of ‘A+’ with a stable outlook and short-term IDR of ‘F1’.QNB is the largest bank in Qatar and one of the largest in the region. It has an estimated 45% domestic market share of loans and deposits. The bank is 50% owned by the Qatar Investment Authority.