Via Christine Burke and Olga Voitova in yahoo.com: Saudi Arabia’s bond spree continued Wednesday as its sovereign wealth fund sold $4 billion of dollar debt. The Public Investment Fund priced notes with maturities of five years and 9 1/2 years, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified sharing private information. The premiums above US Treasuries are respectively 95 and 110 basis points — both 30 basis points less than initial price talk. The tighter pricing occurred as orders topped $16 billion, excluding joint lead manager interest, the person said, with demand has been equally split across the two notes. The deal followed a $12 billion bond by the Saudi government earlier this month, while the PIF signed a $7 billion Islamic loan with 20 banks around the same time.
