JEDDAH, 19 March 2005 — Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC) plans to modify company regulations next month to allow it to issue conventional or Islamic bonds, the company said.

SEC said in a statement published on the official Saudi stock market website it would put the proposal to shareholders at a meeting on April 16.

“The changes to the company articles recommended to the meeting include ... permitting issuing bonds and sukuk (Islamic bonds),” said the statement, which was dated March 16.

SEC Chief Executive Officer Suleiman Al-Qadi told Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper the proposal would allow the company to “finance its future plans without the need for loans from banks”.

He gave no details.

SEC said last week it plans a dividend of SR3.5 per share after posting net profits of SR1.4 billion last year.

SEC is a merger of 10 Saudi power firms. It has a market capitalization of SR96 billion, or 7.2 percent of the Saudi share market, making it the third biggest listed Saudi company in terms of capitalization.

Last year petrochemical giant Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) said it planned to issue the country’s first domestic corporate bond. It did not say whether the bond would be an Islamic sukuk.