After an exhaustive global selection process, SABIC's US$ 1 billion bond issued last year has won this year's Bonds, Loans & Sukuk Middle East Award for Corporate Bond Deal of the Year.

In September last year, SABIC issued US$ 1 billion bond in the international market through its subsidiary SABIC Capital. This transaction was dual listed in two stock exchanges to gain advantage of the diversity of maturities.

The issuance showcases SABIC's ambition to diversify its funding sources and access investors in various regions of the world that are interested in its credit profile.

Elaborating on SABIC's global investor strategy, Tim Leveille, Corporate Finance EVP and CFO said: "We are harvesting the results of our decision to enter new capital markets and diversify our investor base, conducting quarterly earning calls, and proactively engaging with investors. We accessed a new and deep market for very long-dated tenors (30 years) and positioned our company as a true global chemical player in the financial investment community. The price tension created was an outcome of our plan to diversify our investor base globally and the dual tranche structure enabled SABIC to reach out to a broader investor base with different tenors and price requirements."

The transaction came in a difficult year for the financial markets with the pandemic and related economic fallout. This issuance, however, demonstrated SABIC's agility and resilience to market conditions and its attractiveness for a diverse investor base looking for different tenors, which stimulated demand and drove favorable prices.

The prices achieved in this issuance put SABIC in an exclusive group of companies worldwide that have managed to attract investors at better pricing than their shareholders or the government.

Other highlights of the project include: It is the first ever dual listing from a Saudi entity; the 10-year bond marks the lowest bond fixed-rate pricing ever for SABIC; the 30-year bond is the longest tenor for a bond issued ever by SABIC: the deal was eight times oversubscribed, the highest ever for SABIC, reflecting the strong investor demand; shortest execution time of 36 hours which reduced market volatility risk.

Since 2015, the Bonds, Loans & Sukuk Middle East Awards has been recognizing the most innovative and ground-breaking deals from Sovereign, Corporate and Financial Institution issuers and borrowers in the Middle East.

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SABIC - Saudi Basic Industries Corporation SJSC published this content on 21 September 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 21 September 2021 12:41:08 UTC.