Saudi Arabia

The Financial Conduct Authority’s plan to create a new premium listing category in the UK for companies controlled by sovereign states is already dividing market opinion. The move, put out for consultation on Thursday, looks like a bid to lure to the IPO of Saudi Aramco, which could be the biggest flotation ever, to the London Stock Exchange.

Rating: Baa3/BBB-

New deals from the Middle East and Africa are beginning to flow as EM’s hot run gathers momentum. In the Gulf Cooperation Council, Saudi Electricity Co (Seco) and Oman Electricity Transmission are exploring dollar opportunities as Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank plots a comeback. Further south and west, Senegal has picked leads for a dollar comeback as the market awaits the results of Ivory Coast’s RFP.

Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power priced its long awaited debut bond on Wednesday, raising $814m with the secured note. Months of work spent structuring the deal and educating investors were rewarded, with the borrower achieving a combination of size and price it would not have managed with a plain vanilla bond, said a lead banker.

Saudi’s ACWA Power priced its long awaited debut bond on Wednesday, raising $814m with the secured note. Months of work spent structuring the deal and educating investors were rewarded, with the borrower achieving a combination of size and price it would not have managed with a plain vanilla bond, according to a lead banker.

The bond pipeline in CEEMEA is light with only well flagged borrowers opening books in a week that is peppered with data points and political risk events.

Orders of over $1.5bn enabled Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power to squeeze down guidance for its amortising note on Wednesday.

New deals from the Middle East are beginning to flow. Saudi Arabia's International Company for Water and Power Projects (ACWA Power) opened books on a conventional amortising note on Tuesday, as Saudi Electricity Co (Seco) and Oman Electricity Transmission line up sukuk trades.

Saudi Arabian water company ACWA has resurrected its debut deal, thanks to improved market conditions after the trade, which was first announced in November, was delayed. The return of the deal sees Citi bumped up to join Jefferies on the top line.

Saudi Arabia’s $9bn sukuk was, for the second time, a staggering market debut from the sovereign. But size came at a price and the issuer paid up over its conventional curve, writes Virginia Furness.

Orders for Saudi Arabia’s debut sukuk were over $25bn on Wednesday morning allowing the borrower to tighten pricing ever closer to its conventional curve.

Orders for Saudi Arabia’s debut sukuk were over $17.5bn at the first official update on Tuesday afternoon.