Saudi Arabia appoints banks to arrange debut global sukuk

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday mandated investment banks to arrange the kingdom's first international dollar-denominated sukuk, state-run news agency, SPA, reported.

The kingdom has appointed banks to help arrange meetings with fixed-income investors beginning Sunday, April 9. The sukuk, whose size was not revealed, would then be issued “according on capital market conditions”.

The banks were not officially named on Tuesday. However, according to media reports Citi, JP Morgan and HSBC are international coordinators on the planned issue. Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas are also said to be involved.

The Debt Management Office at the ministry of finance on Tuesday said it has completed setting up the program for sukuk issuance.

The world’s biggest oil exporter is tapping international and domestic markets to help finance a budget deficit that may reach $53 billion this year, equal to about 7.7 percent of economic output.

The country plans to raise between $10 billion and $15 billion from international bond markets in 2017 and sell about SAR 70 billion locally, a finance ministry official said in December.