SABIC completes $2bn bond issuance after Clariant’s stake acquisition

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–SABIC has completed the issuance of $2bn worth of international bonds, the Saudi petrochemicals major said on Wednesday, after it became the owner of 24.99% of Switzerland’s Clariant.

The bonds issued by Netherlands-based SABIC Capital II BV are senior notes unsecured by assets, SABIC said in a filing to the Saudi Stock Exchange or Tadawul.

In September, US credit rating agency Moody’s assigned SABIC’s bonds an A1 rating, considered upper-medium-grade and are subject to low credit risk, being unlikely to default.

A total of 10,000 bonds, or sukuk, were issued with par value of $200,000 each, issued to institutional investors.

The bonds will be listed on the Irish Stock Exchange (Euronext Dublin).

Those maturing in five years have a 4% rate of return, while a 4.5% rate applies to bonds with a 10-year maturity.

SABIC Capital II BV engages in financing and investments for SABIC subsidiaries in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

The global coordinators of the SABIC bond issuance were BNP Paribas and Citigroup Global Markets; with HSBC Bank, Mitsubishi UFG Securities EMEA and Standard Chartered Bank as joint lead managers.

Fixed income investor meetings for the bond issue were held in London, New York, Los Angeles and Boston from 25 September.

SABIC had said on 18 September that it is collaborating with 24.99%-owned Swiss specialty chemicals firm Clariant to form a new high performance materials unit.

The Saudi Arabian company is now the single biggest shareholder of Clariant.

Pictured: SABIC’s headquarters in Riyadh
Source: Hassan Ammar/AP/REX/Shutterstock