Monitoring Desk
RIYADH: The Saudi Arabia-based oil and gas giants, Saudi Aramco, is planning to delve into the debt market during the second quarter in order to fund the purchase of petrochemical company, Sabic, in what is set to be its first ever international bond, according to Bloomberg.
On Wednesday (9 January), Saudi Arabian Energy Minister, Khalid Al-Falih, revealed the firm required flexibility in financing the Sabic deal which is expected to cost around $70bn.
“The funding program will be sustained over time as Saudi Aramco grows and undertakes its capital program,” Al-Falih said. “We believe that having bonds and commercial paper as one of its sources of capital is prudent and necessary.”
Al-Falih also added that the Aramco bond is expected to be in US dollars with the debt sale ensuring that Saudi Aramco will disclose its accounts to investors for the first time since its nationalization around forty years ago.
No details have been released on the size of the potential bond sale yet, however, it is expected that it could rank among the biggest issued by a firm if Aramco finances a signifcant percentage of the Sabic deal with it.
