Saudi Arabia plans to raise $11bln syndicated loan

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance has appointed Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) as coordinator and bookrunner for the long-term senior unsecured loan to raise $11 billion, Alsharq Bloomberg reported on Friday.

The ten-year loan is offering an interest rate of 100 basis points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate – the usual reference rate when borrowing in dollars which is 5.30 percent, the report added.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) included other banks to participate in the loan and asked interested parties to respond by mid-October, according to the sources familiar with the matter.

It is not clear yet what purpose the loan would be used for, although the Kingdom has a large number of projects under way as part of an economic diversification campaign supported by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.