Saudi International Petrochemical Co. (Sipchem) raised SR1.8 billion ($480 million) from the sale of Islamic bonds. The five-year, floating-rate sukuk was priced 175 basis points over the Saudi Interbank Offered Rate, and the offer received orders of about SR4.5 billion, the company said in a statement to the Saudi bourse Monday. Sipchem's initial plan was to raise SR1.5 billion from the sale. The bonds are the second local-currency debt to be sold by a borrower in Saudi Arabia this year, bringing total sales in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council to $2.3 billion in 2011 so far, compared with $2.5 billion in the year-earlier period from Jan. 1 to July 4, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The average yield on sukuk by borrowers in the region declined to 4.16 percent on July 1, the lowest in six years, according to the HSBC/NASDAQ Dubai GCC US Dollar Sukuk Index. Government institutions, insurance companies, investment and money market funds, financial institutions and individuals who bought the debt, Sipchem said. Deutsche Securities and Riyad Capital to manage the sale.
