Saudi home finance firm BHF launches SAR 500 mln sukuk program

Bidaya Home Finance (BHF), partly owned by Public Investment Fund (PIF), announced on Wednesday its debut program to sell sukuk bonds worth SAR 500 million, Reuters reported.

BHF hired Ashmore Investment Saudi Arabia to arrange the program while Albilad Capital was hired as “dealer.”

The sukuk program was “a core component” of BHF’s medium-term financing strategy, CEO Mazin Al Ghunaim was quoted as saying.

He added that the firm wanted to support the domestic capital markets and help “home ownership for all.”

The unsecured sukuk would be made in two tranches of SAR 250 million each, with a tenor of less than 24 months and a 3.75 percent yield, Al Ghunaim said.

BHF plans to launch the first tranche in Q2 2018 and the second towards the end of the year “if things go very well,” he said.

BHF launched operation in January 2016, with a capital of SAR 900 million. Other than PIF, which holds a 22.2 percent share in the firm, Jeddah-based Islamic Corp for Development of the Private Sector is also a shareholder.

The Riyadh-based company aims to make home financing more easily available by offering Shariah-compliant products to Saudi retail customers.