Sabic sets price guidance

Saudi Basic Industries (Sabic) gave price guidance for an Islamic bond sale to raise up to $1.33 billion (Dh4.8bn), as it seeks to tap investor appetite for bonds denominated in riyals, an arranger said.

The world's biggest chemicals firm by market value gave guidance of mid-40s to 50 basis points above three-month Saudi Interbank Offered Rate on the five-year bonds, said Rajiv Shukla, HSBC managing director of investment bank finance.

The bonds, denominated in the dollar-pegged Saudi currency, provide an investment vehicle for Gulf investors starved of choice, Shukla said. "Welcome to the Saudi market. It's very liquid and there is a lack of local assets," he said.

Sabic's 10-day bond sale started on Saturday and ends on May 12, by which time final pricing and the sale's final size should be announced. Ratings agency Standard and Poor's assigned the Islamic bonds, or sukuk, an A+ rating. HSBC Saudi Arabia and Calyon Saudi Fransi are joint lead managers for the sale.

Sabic is raising the money to finance projects and for general corporate purposes, its Chief Financial Officer Mutlaq Al Morished told Al-Arabiya television in April.

In January, the firm signed a joint venture deal to build a $1.7bn petrochemical complex in China, and has said it was looking to build another plant in India.

The number

$1.3bn The amount Sabic is planning to raise through bond sale

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