Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth machine, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has once again flexed its financial muscle—this time through a $2 billion, 10-year bond that drew a tidal wave of demand topping $7.75 billion.
Launched via its special-purpose arm, GACI First Investment Company, and guaranteed by PIF itself, the bond priced with a final coupon of 5% and yield of 5.003%. Investors pushed order books far beyond the target, underscoring appetite for Saudi paper backed by the kingdom’s $1.15 trillion fund.
What began with initial guidance at T+120 basis points tightened to T+95, showing the strength of demand. The bond, senior and unsecured, carries par call rights three months before maturity and is listed on the London Stock Exchange’s International Securities Market. Proceeds are earmarked for broad corporate use, with settlement due September 15.
The syndicate roster reflected heavyweight participation: Citi, HSBC, and JP Morgan led as global coordinators, while a mix of Wall Street and Asian giants—Bank of China, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, ICBC, and Standard Chartered—joined as active bookrunners. Barclays, BofA, and Mizuho rounded out the passive bench.
This isn’t PIF’s first debt-market foray of the year. January saw $4 billion raised in a two-tranche issuance, followed by $1.25 billion via a 7-year sukuk in April. Only last week, Saudi Arabia added another $5.5 billion through dual-tranche Islamic bonds.
For Riyadh, the pattern is clear: tap global capital markets to fund a transformation agenda that aims to rewire the kingdom’s economy beyond oil—pouring billions into infrastructure, tourism, and futuristic mega-projects designed to define its next era.
