Saudi Arabia raises $17.5 bn in first international bond offering: HSBC

Paris : Saudi Arabia raised $17.5 billion in its first international bond issue, HSBCannounced Thursday, after the bank took part in the transaction.

Saudi Arabia divided the issue into three tranches with maturities of five, 10 and 30 years respectively, HSBC said.

The $5.5 billion in 5-year bonds carries a coupon that pays annual interest of 2.375 percent. A further $5.5 billion of 10-year bonds carries a coupon of 3.25 percent interest and the $6.5 billion in 30-year bonds has a coupon with 4.5 percent interest.

The effective annual interest rate, including the coupon and amount of the discount between the face value of the bond and its sale price, is 2.588 percent on the 5-year bonds, 3.407 percent on the 10-year bonds, and 4.623 percent on the 30-year bonds.

The bond issue is larger than many analysts expected and is the largest ever from an emerging-market nation, Bloomberg News said.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, projected a budget deficit of $87 billion this year after a fall in oil revenues, which still account for most of its income.