The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP) said that its debut Saudi Arabian 2 billion riyal bond was oversubscribed three times, according to a statement, clocking an aggregate book size of SAR 6 billion ($1.6 billion).
The SAR bond, rated A1 by Moody’s, marks the first such foray in the Kingdom by a multilateral development bank, the statement read.
The government of Egypt owns a 3 percent stake in APICORP, a multilateral development bank owned by the 10 member states of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC).
Priced at 110 basis points over the Saudi Interbank Offered Rate (SIBOR), the five-year bond witnessed high demand from investors in a short book-building period, resulting in a price that was tangibly at the lower end of the range. The bond which is callable after three years at the option of APICORP is the first such structure in the Saudi capital markets. Registered on Tadawul, the bond pays a quarterly coupon.
