Saudi Arabia

The Islamic Development Bank has announced initial price thoughts for a five year sukuk dollar bond — its first since a euro benchmark in November 2018.

Bank are having to dig deep and increase their country lending limits to manage the vast amount of business expected to come from the Gulf as government expenditure across the region grows. The next big deal off the rank will be from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is expected to tap the loan market for a bridge loan of up to $11bn in coming months, bankers said, following its highly successful debut deal in September. Mariam Meskin reports.

Saudi Aramco might have expected a $12bn bond it issued on Tuesday to be hailed as a triumph, coming as it did well inside its sovereign curve after taking orders that at one point reached $100bn. But after pricing, the demand evaporated, the bonds fell below reoffer, and the notion that the European Market Abuse Regulation has ended the practice of order inflation was left in tatters.

Saudi Aramco’s hotly anticipated $12bn bond was priced yesterday with the fanfare investors had expected. Demand for the deal was so large that the sovereign rallied 20bp as the deal printed, but stated final orderbooks of $92bn are being questioned as two investors say only the 30 year tranche is still bid above re-offer. The leads disagree, though, with one saying he saw all the tranches above their pricing levels.

Saudi Aramco is making a splash with its bond market debut, gathering a staggering $85bn of orders for a six tranche deal expected to exceed $10bn.

Indications of interest for Saudi Aramco’s planned bond issue were understood to have topped $15bn on Thursday morning in London, with three days left of the roadshow still to run. Contrary to press reports, investors have been told on the roadshow that the cash raised will not be used directly to fund the acquisition of Saudi Basic Industries Corp, as that is not expected to take place for another six to 12 months, writes Francesca Young.

It is clear that Saudi Aramco does not need the cash from the bond it looks set to raise next week. With that being the case, investors and bankers should bet on the lower end of any stated size range, and other Saudi issuers should be hoping that tight pricing is the priority

Indications of interest for Saudi Aramco’s bond are understood to have hit over $15bn, with the roadshow not finishing until Monday April 8.

Saudi Aramco’s jumbo M&A deal has a stranglehold on emerging markets debt investors’ attention and is dominating their schedules.

Saudi Aramco has published a bond programme prospectus and received its first credit ratings as it goes on the road to promote its first international capital markets transaction, which is expected to come to market this week.

State oil company Saudi Aramco is expected to tap the bond market in the next fortnight for a deal that could be anywhere in the region of $7bn-$15bn, according to bankers in the region away from the deal. Estimates of the premium Aramco will have to pay over the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia curve is being discussed as negative to plus 15bp, depending on the size of the deal.

Aramco’s eagerly awaited $69.1bn deal to buy petrochemical firm Sabic landed this week, prompting speculation over the financing’s structure and timing. Loans bankers are expecting to cover a large portion of the deal and expect it will be well supported, writes Mariam Meskin.