New Delhi

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund tapped bond investors for the fourth time this year as it taps into the market for huge domestic investment plans.

Advertisment

The Public Investment Fund sold a three-year sukuk in a $1.5 billion size, said people briefed on the deal. The spread was tightened to 75 basis points over US Treasuries from an initial target of around 110 bps. Demand was over $4.7 billion, the people said.

The PIF, as the fund is known, also sold a $500 million add-on of a 2032 green bond at a spread of plus 107 basis points to US Treasuries, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Bids for the note reached more than $3.4 billion.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. were among the bookrunners.

Advertisment

The latest fundraising by the wealth fund marks a busy period of borrowing as it juggles a commitment to ramp up domestic investments with how to finance those plans. It has already raised $7 billion from two-dollar bond sales this year, plus an additional £650 million ($850 million) from a sterling-denominated issue in June. Afterwards, the PIF refinanced a $15 billion loan.

Earlier this year, the fund was handed a further $164 billion stake in oil giant Saudi Aramco to help boost its finances.

The PIF, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, is integral to his plans to reshape the Saudi economy. The fund was set to speed up debt sales and seek fresh bank loans under plans to raise cash, Bloomberg reported in March.

Advertisment

The 2024 financing needs of the wealth fund stand at $22 billion, wrote Morgan Stanley strategist Pascal Bode in a research report Tuesday. That's less than half of what has been raised through bond sales this year. "Debt is likely to feature even more prominently going forward absent higher FDI or oil prices," he said.