Saudi Arabia

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. is on a mission to reduce debt after racking up $76 billion in capital expenditure in the last five years, Bloomberg News reported. The conglomerate aims to be a zero-net-debt company in 18 months, Asia’s richest man told shareholders Monday. Aiding that effort would be a decision to sell 20% of Reliance’s oil-to-chemicals business to Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Aramco, at an enterprise value of $75 billion. The company will also start preparing to list its retail and telecommunications units within five years, Ambani said.

This isn’t the first time Saudi Arabia has deployed the whatever-it-takes weapon to beat back the bears. In May 2017, energy minister Khalid Al-Falih used that exact phrase when Brent crude had slipped below $50 a barrel, a Bloomberg View reported. It sparked a brief rally, followed by a brief dip again, that ultimately segued into a sustained march toward $86 by the fall of 2018. It’s different this time. As bleak as things seemed to OPEC in May 2017, the organization actually had some favorable trends going its way.

The Saudi Binladin Group is seeking a financial adviser for a restructuring of the group’s debt, which could range between $20 and $30 billion, sources familiar with the matter said. The move is the latest in state efforts to restructure the construction giant, in which the Saudi government took a roughly one-third stake from Bin Laden family members that were swept up in an anti-graft campaign that Riyadh launched in late 2017, Reuters reported.

Saudi Arabia plans to issue a debut euro-denominated bond, part of a borrowing binge to meet the government’s ambitious spending targets, The Wall Street Journal reported. The bond is aimed at diversifying Saudi Arabia’s investor base, following predominantly dollar debt that has catapulted the kingdom up the ranks of emerging-market bond issuers. Subject to market conditions, Saudi Arabia is seeking to issue the bond in tranches of eight and 20 years, according to a marketing document provided by one of the arrangers Monday. The exact timing of the issuance isn’t clear.

A Saudi commercial court has accepted a filing by conglomerate AHAB to have its decade-long dispute with creditors resolved under the kingdom’s new bankruptcy law, and rejected a demand to liquidate the company filed by two of its creditors, sources familiar with the matter said, Reuters reported. The bankruptcy filing was seen as a key test of Saudi Arabia’s new law for handling insolvency disputes, which became effective last year as part of reforms aimed at making the country more investor friendly.

A Saudi court has rejected two applications from conglomerate Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Brothers (AHAB) to have its decade-long dispute with creditors resolved under the kingdom’s new bankruptcy law, AHAB said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The case was seen as a key test of the kingdom’s new regime for handling insolvency disputes. Creditors have been pursuing AHAB and Saad Group, another Saudi conglomerate, since they defaulted on about $22 billion in combined debt in 2009.

Saudi conglomerate Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Brothers (AHAB) said on Wednesday it had filed last week for a financial restructuring under Saudi Arabia’s new bankruptcy law, as it seeks to end a decade-long dispute with creditors, Reuters reported.  Saudi Arabia’s bankruptcy law, which came into effect in August, is an important step towards making the kingdom more investor friendly, offering a legal framework to struggling companies seeking to restructure debt following the 2009 global financial crisis and, more recently, weaker oil prices.

A commercial court in Dammam has rejected an application by the conglomerate Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Brothers (AHAB) to settle its debt under a new Saudi bankruptcy law, AHAB told Reuters on Wednesday. AHAB was the first high-profile company to file for a settlement under Saudi Arabia’s bankruptcy law, which came into effect in August last year, part of reforms aimed at attracting foreign investment and reducing the economy’s dependence on oil, Reuters reported.

Qatar threw a $500 million lifeline to Lebanon because of what it sees as its mission to be the Middle East’s emergency lender to nations in distress, according to the country’s foreign minister, Bloomberg News reported.

Saudi Arabian conglomerate Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Brothers (AHAB) has begun canvassing creditor support for its bid to become the first company to achieve a settlement under the kingdom’s new bankruptcy law, a senior executive said. Creditors will vote in the first quarter of 2019 on whether they agree to AHAB’s plan to reach a protective settlement under the law, said Simon Charlton, AHAB’s chief restructuring officer, Reuters reported.