AFP, Riyadh :
Saudi Arabia’s first international bond offering totalled $17.5 billion and was nearly four times oversubscribed, official media said early Thursday, confirming the strong buyer interest which analysts expected.
“The total sum of the first offering was $17.5 billion,” the Saudi Press Agency reported.
“The total subscription requests for these bonds amounted to $67 billion dollars (251.3 billion Saudi riyals)”.
A source involved in the operation on Wednesday confirmed that “the terms have been launched,”, and Saudi has divided the total into three tranches with maturities of five, ten and thirty years, respectively, tailor-made for the American market.
However, investor interest in the issue extends well beyond the United States, the source said.
The Saudi issue will be bigger than many analysts had expected.
It will be the largest ever from an emerging-market nation, Bloomberg News said.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, projected a budget deficit of $87 billion this year after a fall in oil revenues, which still account for most of its income.
Saudi Arabia’s first international bond offering totalled $17.5 billion and was nearly four times oversubscribed, official media said early Thursday, confirming the strong buyer interest which analysts expected.
“The total sum of the first offering was $17.5 billion,” the Saudi Press Agency reported.
“The total subscription requests for these bonds amounted to $67 billion dollars (251.3 billion Saudi riyals)”.
A source involved in the operation on Wednesday confirmed that “the terms have been launched,”, and Saudi has divided the total into three tranches with maturities of five, ten and thirty years, respectively, tailor-made for the American market.
However, investor interest in the issue extends well beyond the United States, the source said.
The Saudi issue will be bigger than many analysts had expected.
It will be the largest ever from an emerging-market nation, Bloomberg News said.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, projected a budget deficit of $87 billion this year after a fall in oil revenues, which still account for most of its income.
