Saudi Aramco raised this week $6 billion via its first Islamic bond denominated in U.S. dollars, orders for which exceeded $60 billion, according to a document from one of the bank’s arrangers of the deal that Reuters has seen. The Saudi oil giant is looking to raise funding in order to meet its massive $75 billion annual dividend and reduce its debt load that had swelled after the acquisition of local chemicals giant Sabic and the collapse in oil prices last year. In the issue of the Islamic bond, the so-called sukuk, Aramco placed on Wednesday $1 billion in a three-year tranche, $2 billion in a five-year tranche, and $3 billion in a ten-year tranche of the Islamic bond, according to the document seen by Reuters. Ahead of the bond issue, Moody’s assigned a provisional A1 rating on Aramco’s new sukuk program with a ‘negative’ outlook in line with […]