据11月17日Rigzone消息：沙特阿美石油公司周二开始巨额债券发售，为750亿美元的股息融资，这是自去年4月以来首次重返债务市场。

在原油价格暴跌导致第三季度利润下降45％之后，这家国有能源公司正在增加债务。这使得它无法产生足够的现金来支付投资者的支出，而这些支出几乎全部流向了沙特阿拉伯政府，后者需要这些钱来填补不断扩大的预算赤字并支撑下滑的经济。

据知情人士透露，全球最大的石油公司沙特阿美正在出售3年、5年、10年、30年和50年到期的债券。该人士称，最初的利差指引区间，较短期公债高出约140个基点，较50年期公债高出逾230个基点。

该债券可能在周二晚些时候发行。

由于疫情和能源封锁削弱了能源需求，基准布伦特原油价格今年已下跌近35%，至每桶44美元左右。尽管如此，发达国家的收益率仍然很低，以至于投资者急于购买高评级的新兴市场资产，包括阿美公司的资产。该公司将于2029年到期的30亿美元债券的收益率已从2019年底的3.04％降至2.12％。这仅比具有类似到期日的沙特政府债券的收益率略高。

穆迪投资者服务公司对这家总部位于达伦的公司的评级为A1，该公司可能会发行约60亿美元的债券。这将是该公司去年首次公开发行时借款额的一半，当时该公司吸引了逾1,000亿美元的订单，而且发行价低于政府。

过去两周，制药公司在疫苗方面取得进展之后，新兴市场投资者变得更加乐观。

沙特阿美已经大幅削减支出并裁员，还考虑出售部分资产，以节省股东支出。尽管采取这些措施来保存现金，但其负债比率(债务与股本之比)已升至21.8%，高于5%至15%的目标区间。杠杆率也有所上升，因为该公司今年早些时候负债700亿美元收购了化学制造商沙特基础工业公司。

去年12月，该公司在沙特证券交易所上市。承诺在首次公开募股后至少五年内每年分红750亿美元。

此次债券发售的主要银行是花旗集团，高盛集团，汇丰控股，摩根大通，摩根士丹利和NCB资本。

冯娟 摘译自 Rigzone

原文如下：

Aramco Kicks Off Bond Sale

Saudi Aramco kicked off a jumbo bond sale Tuesday to help fund a $75 billion dividend, returning to the debt markets for the first time since April of last year.

The state energy firm is raising debt after slumping crude prices caused profit to fall by 45% in the third quarter. That’s left it unable to generate enough cash to fund investor payouts, almost all of which go to the Saudi Arabian government, which needs the money to plug a widening budget deficit and prop up a slumping economy.

Aramco, the world’s biggest oil company, is selling tranches maturing in three, five, 10, 30 and 50 years, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Initial spread guidance ranges from around 140 basis points above U.S. Treasuries on the shortest tranche, to plus 230 basis points for the 50-year portion, the person said.

The bond may be issued later on Tuesday.

Benchmark Brent oil has dropped almost 35% this year to around $44 a barrel, with the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns sapping demand for energy. Despite that, yields in the developed world are so low that investors have rushed to buy highly-rated emerging-market assets, including those of Aramco. The yield on the company’s $3 billion of bonds due in 2029 has dropped to 2.12% from 3.04% at the end of 2019. That’s only slightly higher than the yield of Saudi government bonds with a similar maturity.

The Dhahran-based firm, rated A1 by Moody’s Investors Service, may issue around $6 billion of bonds, Bloomberg reported Monday. That would be half the amount the company borrowed in its debut sale last year, when it attracted more than $100 billion of orders and priced at a lower yield than the government.

“Pricing looks reasonably generous, although it will undoubtedly tighten as the book builds,” said Todd Schubert, head of fixed-income research at Bank of Singapore. Investors are “concerned about oil prices, particularly under a Joe Biden presidency. However, Aramco is such a low-cost producer.”

Aramco has slashed spending, cut jobs, and is considering selling some assets as it looks to save money for its shareholder payouts. Despite these efforts to conserve cash, its gearing -- a measure of debt as a percentage of equity -- has increased to 21.8%, above its target range of 5% to 15%. Gearing also rose because the company took on debt to pay for a $70 billion acquisition of Saudi Basic Industries Corp., a chemical maker, earlier this year.

The company listed shares on the Saudi stock exchange last December. It pledged an annual dividend of $75 billion for at least five years after the initial public offering.

The lead banks on the bond sale are Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and NCB Capital.