Saudi Arabia has sold two bonds–a sukuk tranche and a conventional bond–for $3.25, the kingdom’s National Debt Management Center (NDMC) has announced.
The value of the first tranche is at $2 billion for a nine-and-a-half-year sukuk maturing in 2031, while the second tranche of $1.25 billion is for a 30-year bond maturing in 2051.
The dual-tranche bonds were issued under the kingdom’s Global Trust Certificate Issuance Programme and the global medium-term Note Issuance Programme.
In a statement, the NDMC said the bonds were a part of its strategy to diversify the investor base and meet the kingdom’s financing needs from international debt capital markets efficiently.
“The bid-to-cover ratio reflects the strong demand of the kingdom’s issuances, confirming the investors’ confidence in the reliability of the kingdom’s economy,” the statement said.
Media reports said guidance was tightened after orders peaked over $11.5 billion. Initial guidance was around 3.6 percent for the conventional and around 110 bps over UST for the sukuk.
Reports said BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Citi were global coordinators and joint bookrunners on both tranches and Al Rajhi Capital was a passive joint lead manager and bookrunner on the sukuk.
