Saudi Arabia raises £14.35bn and set emerging market world record

Saudi Arabia  sold its debut soverign bond issue  and raised £ 14.35bn ($17.5bn) and set a new emerging market record eclipsing Argentina’s  £13.53bn ($16.5bn)  bond sale earlier this year to become the largest debt issue by an emerging  economy. Saudi Arabia’s  venture into International markets is part of broader plan to divert its economy away from its sole reliance on oil revenues. Asian buyers were snapping up significatn protion of orders with investors of pension funds and insurance companies bought Saudi Arabia’s long-dated bonds.

The bonds were sold at 40 basis points above debt issued by Quatar, which carries a higher credit rating and 100 points  wider than bonds sold by BP and Shell.