5/16/2023
The National Debt Management Center (NDMC) announced the completion of receiving investors ' requests for the international trust certificates issuance (Sukuk), with a total value of USD 6 Bn under the Kingdom's Global Trust Certificate Issuance Program.
The total order book reached over USD 27 billion, which equals an oversubscription of 4.5 times the total of USD 6 billion issuance (equivalent to SAR 22.50 billion) via a dual-tranche Trust Certificates (Sukuk) offering. The value of the first tranche was USD 3 billion (equivalent to SAR 11.25 billion) for a 6-years Sukuk maturing in May 2029 with a 4.274% profit rate. The second tranche totaled USD 3 billion (equivalent to SAR 11.25 billion) for a 10-years Sukuk maturing in May 2033 with a 4.511% profit rate.
The bid-to-cover ratio reflects the strong demand of the Kingdom's issuances, confirming the international investors' confidence in the strength of the Kingdom's economy and its investment opportunities future. That was shown in this issuance that oversubscribed with demand from a wide array of international investors and was allocated to a global mix of asset managers and financial institutions.
This transaction is part of NDMC's strategy to diversify the Kingdom's funding sources and expand the investor base to meet the Kingdom's financing needs from international debt capital markets efficiently and effectively, in accordance with the approved Annual Borrowing Plan, considering additional funding activities subject to market conditions and through available funding channels locally or internationally. This is to ensure the Kingdom's continuous presence in debt markets and manage the debt repayments for the coming years while taking into account market movements and the government debt portfolio risk management.
This issuance represents the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's first dual tranche sukuk issuance since 2017 and comes on the back of a successful USD 10 billion multi-tranche bond transaction, which was executed in January 2023.
A number of local and international banks and financial institutions contributed to the success story of this issuance, Citigroup Global Markets Limited, J.P. Morgan Securities Plc, and Standard Chartered Bank acted as Joint Global Coordinators and Active bookrunners on this transaction. AlJazira Capital, BNP Paribas and Goldman Sachs acted as Passive Bookrunners.