Saudi Aramco returns to debt market with three-tranche dollar bond sale

Energy giant Saudi Aramco 2222.SE made its return to the debt market on Tuesday after a three-year hiatus, mandating banks for 10-, 30- and 40-year senior unsecured tranche debt sales, a document from one of the lenders showed, Reuters reported.

The banks will arrange investor calls on Tuesday for the potential sale of benchmark-sized notes, according to the document, which did not disclose the size of the issuance.

Gulf companies and governments have rushed to tap debt markets since the start of the year to take advantage of recent falls in global interest rates, with oil-rich Saudi Arabia issuing $12 billion of dollar-denominated bonds in January.

Aramco, which had last tapped global debt markets in 2021, when it raised $6 billion from a three-tranche sukuk or Islamic bond, flagged in February it was likely to issue a bond this year.

The Saudi government also raised $11.2 billion from a 0.64% stake sale in Aramco last month, which could boost the country’s funding and its aim of shifting the economy away from oil under a plan called “Vision 2030”.

Citi C.N, Goldman Sachs International GS.N, HSBC HSBA.L, JP Morgan Chase JPM.N, Morgan Stanley MS.N and SNB Capital 1180.SE have been appointed as joint active bookrunners for the three-part bond.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, BofA Securities, the Bank of China, Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, GIB Capital and Mizuho are among the bank that are acting as joint passive bookrunners.