Abu Dhabi, (Business News Report)|| Saudi Arabia’s sukuk issuances have risen by 37% last year, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Agency said.
Standard & Poor’s stated that the volume of Saudi government and national corporate issuances was $36.9 billion in 2021, compared to $27 billion in 2020 and $28.6 billion in 2019.
The agency stated that global sukuk issuances in 2021 amounted to $147.4 billion, compared to $148.4 billion in 2020.
Sukuk issuances denominated in foreign currencies increased by 10%, Standard & Poor’s said.
Large issuances in Saudi Arabia, such as Saudi Aramco’s sukuk, for example, contributed to this increase. In addition, the continued growth of issues in Malaysia and Indonesia, and to a lesser extent, issues from Turkey, contributed as well, as a result of favorable market conditions and abundance of liquidity.
The issuance by some Gulf banks of capital support tools by taking advantage of these same favorable conditions contributed to providing a strong impetus to the issuance, according to the report.
It expects the volume of issuance in 2022 to range between 145 and 150 billion dollars, and believes that the implementation of national transformation plans, such as Saudi Vision 2030, will provide some opportunities for issuing sukuk.
In a separate context, Saudi Aramco plans to sell 2.5% of its stake during the coming period, at a value of $50 billion.
The Wall Street Journal said that Aramco’s executives have discussed internally and with external advisors offering more shares for subscription in the Saudi Tadawul market.
This internal offering will coincide with a secondary offering, which may be on the London or Singapore stock exchange, and perhaps another financial market, the Wall Street Journal pointed out.
If completed, the new offering will be the largest ever in the history of capital markets, according to the speakers, who said that it will be an offering that may be difficult to match.
