Saudi Arabia's National Industrialization Co. (Tasnee) has priced a SR2 billion ($533.3 million) Islamic bond (sukuk), the first time the petrochemicals firm has tapped the bond markets. The privately-placed, seven-year transaction was issued at par and carried a profit rate of 105 basis points over the six-month Saudi Interbank Offered Rate, a document from HSBC's Saudi Arabian unit, which arranged the deal, said. The issue attracted an order book of SR5.2 billion and was sold to government institutions, insurance companies, investment funds and banks, a Tasnee bourse filing said late Tuesday. Tasnee announced at the beginning of May it would meet investors ahead of a potential issue. A number of Saudi entities have priced their first local currency sukuk this year as interest in the country's debt market grows on the back of high investor liquidity and a desire to diversify funding sources away from bank loans. The largest of these was a SR15 billion ($4 billion) issue from the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) in January. Diary firm Almarai Co. and AJIL Financial Services Company completed deals worth 1 billion riyals and SR500 million in March and April, respectively.
