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Saudi Arabia became the first GCC sovereign to tap international debt markets in 2026 with a multi-tranche offering across three-, five-, 10- and 30-year tenors.
The kingdom, rated Aa3 (Stable) / A+ (Stable) (Moody’s/Fitch), is acting through the Ministry of Finance, for the senior unsecured Reg S issuance with initial price thoughts in the UST+95bps area for the three-year bond, followed by the five-year in the UST+100bps area, the 10-year in the UST+110bps area, and the 30-year in the UST+140bps area.
HSBC has been appointed as the bookrunner and dealer for the three-year tranche, with Citi handling the five-year, Goldman Sachs International the 10-year, and JP Morgan the 30-year.
The banks are acting as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners on the benchmark issuance, along with Bank of China, BNP PARIBAS, Credit Agricole CIB and Standard Chartered as joint bookrunners and active lead managers.
The bonds have an expected rating in line with the issuer and will be listed on the London Stock Exchange’s main market. FCA / ICMA stabilisation applies.
The funds will be deployed for domestic budgetary purposes, as Saudi Arabia races towards completing various giga-projects in the lead up to its Vision 2030 plan.
On Saturday, Saudi’s finance minister approved the kingdom’s 2026 borrowing plan, with financing needs of about 217 billion riyals ($57.86 billion). The amount is intended to cover a projected budget deficit for the 2026 fiscal year of around $44 billion, as well as the repayment of principal due in 2026, amounting to about $13.87 billion.
(Writing by Bindu Rai, editing by Seban Scaria)
