Riyadh – Mubasher: Almarai Co will meet with a number of investors to issue US dollar-denominated sukuk that will be under the fixed rate RegS Senior system.

The value of the Islamic bond issue will be specified over the coming period subject to the market’s conditions, according to a statement on Tuesday to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

The meetings will start on 21 February, the Gulf's largest dairy company said.

Almarai noted that it will carry out the stabilisation rules of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the International Capital Market Association (ICMA).

“Almarai Company has mandated HSBC and First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) as Joint Global Coordinators alongside GIB Capital, J.P. Morgan and Standard Chartered Bank as Joint Lead Managers to arrange a series of fixed income investor meetings in Asia, Europe and the Middle East,” the statement added.

The Saudi food and beverage firm said it will use the issue, that will be implemented after obtaining approvals from regulatory authorities, to finance its business purposes.

“[Almarai will issue] a benchmark US$ fixed rate RegS senior unsecured Sukuk offering with intermediate tenor, under Almarai’s newly established $2 billion Trust Certificate Issuance Program, will follow subject to market conditions,” the statement noted.

On Thursday, Moody's Investors Service assigned a ‘Baa3’ rating to Almarai with a stable outlook.

S&P assigned a “BBB- with a Stable Outlook/A-3” rating to Almarai.

Almarai last reported SAR 369.6 million in net profit after Calculating Zakat and Taxe in the third quarter of 2018, registering a drop of 27.93% from SAR 512.9 million in the same period of 2017.

From January to December 2018, the integrated consumer food and beverage group registered SAR 2.009 billion in net profit after calculating Zakat and Tax, down 7.95% year-on-year from SAR 2.182 billion.

By 10:47 am Saudi time, the company’s stock levelled up 0.18% to SAR 55.30.