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| The King Abdullah financial district sits on the horizon seen from a skyscraper under construction in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016. |
Saudi Arabia is considering the sale of as much as $15 billion of bonds this year, encouraged by investor demand for Qatar’s recent issue, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The country may replicate Qatar’s $9 billion sale by issuing bonds with five-, 10- and 30- year maturities, the people said, asking not to be identified as the talks are private. It’s weighing a sale of $10 billion to $15 billion after the end of Ramadan in July, the people said, adding no final decision has been made and the discussions are still at a preliminary stage. It would be Saudi Arabia’s first bond sale in international capital markets.
Governments in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes the two-biggest Arab economies of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are turning to public markets to raise funds after a plunge in oil prices led to higher budget deficits. Qatar last week attracted $23 billion in orders for its $9 billion sale, the biggest-ever bond issue from the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia has invited banks to arrange the bond sale, three people familiar with the plans said earlier this month. The country expects to issue a “significant” amount, the people said at the time, without giving more details.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment.
By: Dinesh Nair, Ambereen Choudhury, Ruth David (Bloomberg).
Photo: Waseem Obaidi (Bloomberg).
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