Banking & Finance Saudi-listed Banque Saudi Fransi sells $700m in five-year bonds By Reuters November 17, 2022 Creative Commons The bonds were sold at 170 basis points over US Treasuries Banque Saudi Fransi, which is listed on the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul), sold $700 million in five-year bonds on Wednesday in the first public dollar bonds out of the Gulf in nearly a month, a bank document showed. The bonds were sold at 170 basis points (bps) over US Treasuries (UST), tightened from initial guidance of around 195 bps after orders topped $3 billion. The senior unsecured bonds are expected to be rated “A2” by Moody’s and “BBB+” by Fitch. Citi, JPMorgan, HSBC, Merrill Lynch International, Standard Chartered and Saudi Fransi Capital arranged the deal. Dubai’s Mashreqbank this week hired banks to arrange the sale of US dollar-denominated 10-1/4 year Tier 2 bonds non-callable for 5-1/4 years. Bond issuance from the oil-rich Gulf has plummeted this year amid expected national surpluses, rising interest rates and market volatility. But some issuers have pounced on windows of relative calm in the markets to issue.
