Riyadh (Thursday 10/28/2021):
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia represented by the Ministry of Finance (the issuer) announces the completion of an early repurchase a portion of existing issuer's bonds and Sukuk due in August, September, October, November and December of next year (2022) with a total value of more than 33 billion riyals, in addition to an issuance of new Sukuk under the Sukuk Issuance Programme in Saudi Riyal.
This transaction is one of the initiatives of the National Debt Management Center (NDMC) which aims to unify the issuer's domestic issuances to be under the Sukuk Issuance Programme in Saudi Riyal. This step is the second stage of the initiative which started in 2020, and it will be followed by other stages leading to the unification of all local issuances enabling Sukukholders to benefit from zakat recovery applicable to the Sukuk Issuance Programme in Saudi Riyal. This initiative is a continuation of NDMC's efforts to strengthen the domestic market, and to keep up with market developments which is reflected in the increase of trading volume in the secondary market. It is also an enhancement to NDMC's role in managing government debt obligations and future maturities and to the integration between NDMC and other initiatives to optimize public finance in the medium and short term, and ensuring the Kingdom's access to debt markets at a fair price.
NDMC divided the new Sukuk issuances into four tranches with a total value of S33.48 billion riyal. The first tranche was at a value of 11.11 billion riyals maturing in 2029, the second tranche was at a value of 5.57 billion riyals and will mature in 2031, while the third tranche was at a value of 11.36 billion riyals and will mature in 2033, and the fourth tranche was at a value of 5.44 million riyals and will come due in 2036. The Ministry of Finance and NDMC have appointed HSBC Saudi Arabia, SNB Capital, and ARB Capital jointly to be the primary dealer managers, and Aljazira Capital and Alinma Investment as secondary dealer managers.