APICORP issues a benchmark $750 million 5-year bond – Saudi Gazette

APICORP issues a benchmark $750 million 5-year bond – Saudi Gazette

DAMMAM, Saudi Arabia “” The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), a multilateral development financial institution, Monday announced the issuance of a benchmark $750 million dollar-denominated five-year bond in the RegS markets.

The latest issuance, part of APICORP's $3 billion Global Medium-Term Note (GMTN) program, will bolster the corporation's business operations. This also includes undertaking a countercyclical role in 2020 aimed at supporting the MENA energy sector in mitigating the impact resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as oil price fluctuations.

The issuance attracted robust and diverse investor demand, with more than $1.1 billion in orders for the debt sale from over 40 investors of various types from within and outside the MENA region.

The five-year note's fixed cost of funding (1.46%) is the lowest in the history of APICORP. Moreover, the spread of 110bps is the lowest in the region compared to the sovereign, semi-sovereign and MDB peers' US Dollar issuances that came to the market since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Notably, APICORP is currently the only financial institution in the MENA region rated 'AA' by Fitch and 'Aa2' by Moody's, both with stable outlook.

Dr. Ahmed Ali Attiga, APICORP's chief executive officer, commented: "Despite challenging market conditions, the successful issuance of this benchmark US