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The initial price thoughts for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund-backed USD 10-year Reg S senior unsecured bond falls in the area of 120 basis points over US Treasuries.
The issuance will come under GACI First Investment Company, a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) of Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund, with PIF stepping up as a guarantor, under its Euro Medium Term Note Programme.
The expected issuance rating is Aa3 / A+ (Moody’s/Fitch), in line with PIF’s own rating.
The bond is expected to be priced on Monday, September 8, with a settlement date of September 15.
It will be listed on the London Stock Exchange’s International Securities Market.
Citi, HSBC and JP Morgan have been named joint global coordinators, while Bank of China, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, ICBC, Standard Chartered have been named Joint Active Bookrunners. Barclays, BofA, and Mizuh have been named Joint Passive Bookrunners.
The state-backed PIF, which has an estimated $1.15 trillion in assets under management, has been tapping the debt markets since January, raising $4 billion from a two-tranche deal.
In April, the wealth fund sold $1.25 billion in a 7-year sukuk, tapping the bond market for the second time, as the country pours billions into its ambitious Vision 2030 programme to diversify its economy away from oil.
(Writing by Bindu Rai, editing by Seban Scaria)
