Al Kathiri Holding Plans $133m Islamic Bond

Saudi Arabia-listed building materials firm Al Kathiri Holding announced on Tuesday that it is looking to issue a Saudi riyal-denominated Islamic bond.

Proceeds from the sukuk issuance, valued at 500 million riyals ($133.3 million), will be used for the company’s “general corporate purposes” and to meet its financial objectives and strategies, the company told the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

The offering is still subject to regulatory ap-provals and will be limited to qualified investors “in the countries in which the offering will take place”.

The company swung to a net profit of 3.1 mil-lion riyals during the second quarter of 2021, com-pared to a loss of 1.3 million riyals in the same pe-riod last year. Its revenue also went up by 163 percent to 40 million riyals during the same period.

The global sukuk market experienced strong activity in the second quarter of 2021 after a slow-down in the previous quarter, driven by big-ticket issuance from Saudi Arabia Oil Company and the Indonesian, Turkish and Omani sovereigns, accord-ing to Fitch Ratings.

“The growth was driven by issuers aiming to diversify their funding and taking advantage of the low interest rate environment,” Fitch said.