The Public Investment Fund (PIF) has raised USD 2 bn from the sale of a senior, unsecured seven-year sukuk, Bloomberg reported yesterday, citing a source close to the offering. The debt sale is the second for the sovereign wealth fund this year.

What we know: The source said the PIF sold the sukuk at 85 basis points over US Treasuries, tighter than an initial price guidance of 115 bps. It boasted an order book of over USD 16 bn, including joint leader managers’ interest.

PIF has now raised USD 7 since the start of the year in two debt sales, having earlier taken to market a USD 5 bn offering that was more than 5x oversubscribed, with global institutional investors placing orders worth USD 27 bn.

More to come? The PIF could be looking at another sale later in the year, Bloomberg reports, quoting a Morgan Stanley note. “We do not think that the PIF will stop,” Morgan Stanley strategist Pascal Bode wrote. He sees another offering by the PIF in the second half of the year on the back of a drop in treasury assets and higher expenses. This could bring total issuances this year to c. USD 10-11 bn, he said.

REMEMBER- The PIF closed a USD 3.5 bn global sukuk issuance in October, two green bondofferings totaling USD 8.5 bn between 2022 and 2023, and lined up a USD 17 bn corporate facility in 2022. The fund plans to ramp up annual deployment capacity to USD 70 bn a year starting 2026, fund governor Yasir Al Rumayyan said at the FII Priority conference in Miami last week. This is a big step-up from its current annual spending clip of USD 40-50 bn.

ADVISORS- The USD 2 bn sale was quarterbacked by our friends at HSBC alongside Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered as joint global coordinators for the offering.

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