JPMorgan, HSBC Among Banks Said to Help Manage Saudi Dollar Bond

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia selected banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and HSBC Holdings Plc to help arrange the sale of a dollar-denominated bond, people familiar with the matter said, as the kingdom seeks to plug its budget deficit.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. will also manage the offering that may happen as soon as this month, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

The Saudi Finance Ministry declined to comment. HSBC, Goldman and JPMorgan declined to comment, while Citigroup didn’t immediately comment.

The world’s biggest oil exporter plans to borrow the equivalent of $31 billion this year to bridge an expected budget deficit of $52 billion and fund growth plans after its economy shrank last year. The kingdom on Friday said it’s increasing a $10 billion syndicated loan by $6 billion after existing lenders and new banks showed “an exceptional response.”

The new $16 billion loan will be priced “at a margin representing a 30 percent reduction from levels set in 2016,” the debt management office of the ministry of finance said.

Saudi Arabia raised about $36 billion in 2017, including $14 billion of domestic bonds and $22 billion from international debt markets.

To contact the reporters on this story: Archana Narayanan in Dubai at anarayanan16@bloomberg.net, Matthew Martin in Dubai at mmartin128@bloomberg.net, Dinesh Nair in London at dnair5@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stefania Bianchi at sbianchi10@bloomberg.net, Christian Baumgaertel

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.