Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s oil state corporation, is placing three tranches of Islamic bonds (sukuk) totaling $6 billion, a source in the banking circles told Interfax.
The volume of the 3-year tranche is $1 billion, it is placed at a premium of 65 basis points (bps) to UST. The volume of the 5-year tranche is $2 bln, the premium is 85 bps to the UST. The 10-year tranche is $3bn, at a premium of 120bp to UST.
Alinma Investment Company, Al Rajhi Capital, BNP Paribas, Citi, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Goldman Sachs International, HSBC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley (SPB: MS), NCB Capital, Riyad Capital, SMBC Nikko and Standard Chartered Bank acted as arrangers.
Bonds of the Saudi oil giant are traditionally in great demand among investors, the current transaction was no exception – at the peak of the order book for bonds of Saudi Aramco exceeded $ 60 billion.
The previous time Saudi Aramco entered the debt market was last November, placing five tranches of Eurobonds totaling $8 billion on demand of over $50 billion.
In late 2019, Saudi Aramco, which is 100% state-owned, held an IPO on the local Tadawul exchange.
The offering amounted to 3 billion shares, or 1.5% of capital. In January 2020, an option was exercised for an additional 450 million shares. As a result, the total volume of offering reached a record for the global IPO market of $29.4 billion.
