RIYADH, 17 July 2007 — Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) has commenced marketing its second sukuk issuance, appointing HSBC Saudi Arabia Ltd. as joint lead manager and bookrunner of the sukuk and HSBC as the sole regional GCC coordinator
This sukuk issuance follows a year after SABIC debut offering and has an identical structure but with further innovations. This Saudi riyal-denominated issue has a minimum subscription amount of just SR50,000 and is open for subscription by eligible GCC investors (in addition to Saudi investors). These two features support both SABIC’s and HSBC’s endeavor to continually push the boundaries of innovation, and have been introduced to provide SABIC greater access to a broader base of investors and make this issue the first Saudi riyal-denominated sukuk to be available for subscription outside the Kingdom.
HSBC, with its leading position in sukuk in the Kingdom and the larger Islamic capital markets, was the ideal choice to lead the issuance of this sukuk. Apart from sole lead managing SABIC’s first sukuk, the HSBC group also lead managed SABIC Europe’s debut Eurobond offering (SABIC group’s European subsidiary) which was successfully placed in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
HSBC Saudi Arabia is the sole lead manager and sole bookrunner to the only other sukuk that has been approved for public offering by the Capital Market Authority of Saudi Arabia — the sukuk for the Saudi Electricity Company to be issued shortly and the SR3 billion sukuk issued by SABIC last year.
