The CEO of the General Administration of Global Investment Finance said: Public Investment Fund PIF, Fahad Al-Saif, that thanks to the leadership and guidance of the fund’s board of directors, the fund issued green bonds as a pioneering step as the first sovereign fund to issue these bonds, and it was a historic event.
Fahd Al-Saif added, in an interview with Al-Arabiya, today, Thursday, that the issuance met with great interaction in the markets and from all categories of investors, with a volume of requests exceeding $25 billion, as its first issuance to finance green projects in line with the green initiatives of Saudi Arabia and the green Middle East.
He explained that the requests came from all markets such as Asia, Europe, Britain and America, the most important of which are from investment funds for pensions, retirement and long-term funds.
Fahd Al-Saif said that the fund will return to the markets again in the future, especially after it found large requests for green bonds with a coverage rate of 7 to 8 times.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund raised $3 billion through the sale of the first green bonds. The fund sold bonds in 3 tranches, including the first issuance of its kind for 100-year green bonds.
The details of the three slides are as follows:
$1.25 billion for 5 years at 125 basis points, above US Treasury bills, $1.25 billion for 10 years at +165 basis points, and $500 million for 100 years at an interest rate of 6.7%.
Despite the recent increase in interest rates, they are still low at historical levels.