Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabian banks Alawwal Bank and Saudi British Bank have completed their merger. The deal is yet another bank tie-up taking place in the Gulf, as lenders strive to stay competitive. Royal Bank of Scotland, which held a stake in Alawwal, has received capital relief from the transaction.

Arabian Centres Company (ACC), the owner and operator of Saudi retail malls, has priced its IPO at the bottom of its original range, winning local support for one of the largest deals from the Kingdom in years.

Saudi Telecom Co printed a $1.25bn 10 year sukuk on Thursday from book of more than $4.5bn, with a spread just inside fellow state-owned corporate Saudi Electric Co.

Saudi Telecom Company has tightened price guidance for its debut international sukuk, a dollar 10 year that has already drawn a book of around $3.5bn.

Saudi Telecom Company was on track to print its debut benchmark dollar Reg S/144A sukuk on Thursday, and after a week of roadshowing is leaning towards making it a 10 year bond, GlobalCapital understands.

Banks working on the IPO of Arabian Centres Company (ACC), possibly the largest Saudi Arabian flotation since 2014, have set a price range on the deal.

Saudi Telecom Company is embarking on investor meetings to market a debut benchmark dollar Reg S/144A sukuk. However, investor enthusiasm for Saudi corporate bonds may have been dented as the $12bn bond Aramco printed a fortnight ago remains wide of reoffer.

Islamic Development Bank is expected to raise $1.5bn with a five year sukuk on Wednesday.

The Arabian Centres Co, a Saudi Arabian owner and operator of shopping centres, has launched a listing on the Saudi stock exchange.

The Islamic Development Bank has announced initial price thoughts for a five year sukuk dollar bond — its first since a euro benchmark in November 2018.

Bank are having to dig deep and increase their country lending limits to manage the vast amount of business expected to come from the Gulf as government expenditure across the region grows. The next big deal off the rank will be from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is expected to tap the loan market for a bridge loan of up to $11bn in coming months, bankers said, following its highly successful debut deal in September. Mariam Meskin reports.

Saudi Aramco might have expected a $12bn bond it issued on Tuesday to be hailed as a triumph, coming as it did well inside its sovereign curve after taking orders that at one point reached $100bn. But after pricing, the demand evaporated, the bonds fell below reoffer, and the notion that the European Market Abuse Regulation has ended the practice of order inflation was left in tatters.