Saudi Arabia sold $12 billion of bonds — its largest deal since 2017 — amid a record start to a year for emerging-market countries.
The kingdom added to the almost $25 billion of bonds that developing nations had sold since the start of the year, the biggest of those being a $7.5 billion offering from Mexico. The Saudi deal is equivalent to more than half the fiscal deficit the government is projecting for this year.
Many borrowers are seeking to lock in lower funding costs following a steep drop in US Treasury yields since October. While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to start cutting interest rates this year, pushing down yields even more, that probably won’t happen for several months.
The kingdom sold six-, 10- and 30-year notes with respective yields of 4.89%, 5.13% and 5.91%. Ten-year US Treasuries trade around 4%.
Investors placed around $30 billion of orders, according to Saudi Arabia’s debt office. Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc were the main banks managing the sale.
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