(Bloomberg) -- Qatar, known for its jumbo debt offerings, returned to international capital markets with a three-part $12 billion bond sale.

The gas-rich nation attracted $35 billion in demand prior to the New York open as it took advantage of a pause in U.S. interest-rate increases that has sent investors flocking to emerging-market debt this year. Qatar’s neighbor and rival Saudi Arabia sold $7.5 billion of international bonds in January.

Emerging-market borrowers are racing to soak up renewed appetite for risk, boosting sales to $336 billion this year through March 5, a record on a year-to-date basis, according to Bloomberg league tables.

Qatar, whose debt carries the fourth-highest investment grade of AA- at S&P Global Ratings, last sold bonds in April. The world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas was weighing plans to tap international bond markets to cement its status as a regular issuer, people with knowledge of the matter said last month.

“They are running fairly large surpluses and don’t really need the money,” said Edwin Gutierrez, a London-based money manager at Aberdeen Standard Investments, who was buying the new debt. “Qatar still is cheap compared to other AAs.”

Barclays Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG, Credit Agricole CIB, Deutsche Bank AG, QNB Capital and Standard Chartered Plc arranged the sale. The bonds will be listed in Luxembourg and Taipei.

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