Saudi Aramco Bond Issue Raises $12 Billion

Saudi Aramco‘s international bond issue, launched to finance the company’s $69.1 billion acquisition of a 70% stake in compatriot SABIC from the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), has raised $12 billion.

Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said in January that the government was aiming to take in around $10 billion.

The fund, which manages assets worth around $133 billion, needs cash to finance health care and infrastructure improvements in the Kingdom and help fulfil crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 drive to diversify Saudi Arabia away from oil.

Aramco, now recognized as the world’s most profitable company, ahead of Apple, Google parent Alphabet and Amazon, reportedly received orders worth more than $100 billion for its bond, and the issue was oversubscribed.

According to the newspaper Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing sources, the debt sale involved five different bond types, with maturities ranging from three years to 30 years. Yields available on the bonds were said to be lower than those on Saudi government debt of similar maturities, indicating that there was strong demand for the debt.

An Aramco flotation had been tentatively scheduled for 2018 but plans were put on ice much earlier, with some analysts saying the Kingdom’s advisers and the crown prince disagreed on the oil producer’s value, while others thought the government was reluctant to make the company’s finances transparent.

Until the beginning of this year, Saudi officials had kept the market guessing about the county’s chosen path and even hinted that no bond issue was planned. The government was seen to tread especially circumspectly following the killing of dissident Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul last October.

Following the successful launch, most market watchers said they thought a stock listing would be the Saudis‘ next move, most likely in 2021.