Saudi Arabia chooses hybrid structure for debut dollar sukuk

April 7, 2017

Jeddah, Apr 7: Saudi Arabia has chosen a hybrid structure for its debut international sukuk, the prospectus for the offer showed, a format widely used in the Saudi local debt market, but not the most popular for sovereign issues.

The Islamic bond, expected to go up to $10 billion, will be the country’s second international debt sale after a $17.5 billion conventional bond in October last year. That bond issue, the largest ever sold across emerging markets, was part of an effort to diversify Saudi Arabia’s funding sources to plug a budget deficit caused by lower oil prices.

Saudi Arabia will soon start meeting fixed income investors for the sukuk, a dual-tranche Islamic bond with five- and 10-year maturities.

An amount equal to 51 percent of the bond proceeds will be used in a mudaraba agreement, a form of Islamic investment management partnership. The remaining 49 percent of the proceeds will be used under a murabaha facility by the trustee, a Cayman Islands-incorporated company called KSA Sukuk Limited, to purchase Shariah-compliant commodities, the prospectus said.

Such a hybrid structure, which replicates the riyal-denominated sukuk offer launched by oil giant Saudi Aramco earlier this month, is common in the Saudi local currency debt market. A different lease-based (ijara) sukuk structure has been the most commonly used by countries raising money via international debt issuances.

A hybrid structure might be too complex for some international investors to the point of possibly testing their appetite for the deal, bankers told Reuters last week.

Citigroup, HSBC and JP Morgan are the global coordinators mandated to arrange investor meetings ahead of the sukuk offering. They are joined by BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and NCB Capital as lead managers and bookrunners.

In a separate development, sources said Saudi Aramco had raised SR11.25 billion ($3 billion) in its debut sukuk issuance.

The Islamic bond, part of a program to raise SR37.5 billion, is the oil giant’s first fundraising exercise aimed at diversifying revenues that have been hit by low global oil prices.

The floating rate local currency sukuk has a seven-year maturity and offers 25 basis points over the six-month Saudi Arabian Interbank Offered Rate (SAIBOR).

Saudi Aramco’s debut deal is likely to be followed soon, possibly as early as next week, by the dollar-denominated Saudi sovereign sukuk.

Saudi Aramco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Saudi Aramco started collecting orders for its debut issuance on March 27, a document issued by banks leading the deal showed.

The order books for the transaction should have closed on April 9, according to the original timeline. But bookbuilding was extended by a day because some accounts needed extra time to obtain internal approvals.

Alinma Investment, HSBC Saudi Arabia, NCB Capital and Riyad Capital were the coordinators of the Aramco deal, joined by GIB Capital, Samba Capital and Saudi Fransi Capital in dealer roles.

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Israel launches bloody ground offensive into Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp

News Network

May 12,2024

Israeli military tanks have started to go deeper into the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza as part of a ground offensive months after claiming Hamas had been “dismantled” in the area.

Israeli forces are “carpet-bombing” the eastern areas of Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, killing and wounding several Palestinians, Al-Jazeara reported citing local sources on Sunday.

Israeli military tanks have advanced further into the Jabalia refugee camp, crossing Salah al-Din Street amidst ongoing battles with Hamas fighters, reports added.

Media quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the tanks are surrounding evacuation centers and residential buildings in the densely populated area, leading to mass evacuations and displacement towards the western part of Gaza City.

Also, Israeli drones targeted ambulances near the clinic run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Jabalia, according to Mahmoud Basal, the spokesperson for the civil defense directorate in Gaza.

Basal stated that emergency crews in Rafah, al-Zaytounm, al-Sabra, and Jabalia have been inundated with distress calls, confirming that these areas were subjected to overnight bombardment.

Shortage of oxygen for patients

Imad Abu Zayda, an emergency doctor in Jabalia, warned of the critical conditions prevailing there due to the recent Israeli aggression in the area.

“No light due to the lack of fuel and there’s no medical supplement available as Israel has expanded their operation in the area. We have no oxygen to give to patients,” he said.

He added that the majority of those injured are children and women, and the medical team is grappling with limited resources to provide essential care.

All hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip are now out of service, following a warning from the UN about the risk of running out of fuel in hospitals across the region.

Israel’s closure of the Rafah crossing has also prevented aid trucks from entering the area since May 5.

The Jabalia refugee camp, established in 1948 to accommodate Palestinians who were displaced after the Nakba, or catastrophe, which refers to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948, has become the most densely populated refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

With over 750,000 Palestinians forcefully displaced, this camp stands as a testament to the birth of Israel in 1948.

Since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, Israeli forces carried out several attacks on Jabilia camp, leaving it in ruins by intense bombardment.

In early February, Israeli forces withdrew from the camp claiming it had destroyed Hamas as a fighting force in the northern areas.

On Saturday, the Israeli military ordered residents of the Jabalia Refugee Camp to evacuate “immediately”, as it prepares to launch military operations against Hamas.

However, the displaced residents have no place to seek refuge, as the UN reports a severe famine in the region.

Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed more than 34,971 Palestinians and injured more than 78,641 others, mostly women and children.

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