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By Scott Murdoch and Yousef Saba
DUBAI, June 9 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco
is likely to raise between $3 billion and $4 billion
on Wednesday, two sources said, as it returns to the
international debt markets with its first U.S.
dollar-denominated sukuk sale.
The debt issuance, which will at least partly fund a large
dividend that mostly goes to the government, will comprise
tranches of three, five and 10 years, the term sheet for the
sukuk seen by Reuters showed.
Initial price guidance was around 105 basis points (bps)
over U.S. Treasuries (UST) for the three-year portion, around
125 bps over UST for the five-year paper and around 160 bps over
UST for the 10-year bonds.
Aramco last year maintained a promised $75 billion dividend
to shareholders - chiefly the government - despite lower oil
prices, and is expected to shoulder significant domestic
investments in Saudi Arabia's plans to transform the economy.
The company chose to issue Islamic bonds over conventional
ones due to high demand for the instrument as a result of the
low number of dollar sukuk sales in the Gulf this year, a source
told Reuters on Monday.
Aramco has been widely expected to become a regular bond
issuer after its debut $12 billion issuance in 2019 was followed
by an $8 billion, five-part transaction in November last year,
also used to fund its dividend.
A source had told Reuters that Aramco was expected to raise
up to $5 billion with the deal, which is expected to close later
on Wednesday and has 29 active and passive bookrunners working
on it.
Active bookrunners on the deal include HSBC,
JPMorgan, NCB Capital and Standard Chartered
Bank. Passive bookrunners include BOC International
and Dubai Islamic Bank.
(Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Hong Kong and Yousef Saba;
Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Jan Harvey)
