The SEC group is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's (the "KSA") leading producer of electricity and the only provider of electric power transmission and distribution in the KSA. As at 31 March 2023, 81.1 per cent. of SEC's shares were held by the Public Investment Fund and Saudi Aramco with the rest being publicly traded on Tadawul. SEC was rated A1 (positive outlook) by Moody's, A (stable outlook) by Fitch and A (stable outlook) by S&P.

The 5-year Sukuk was priced at a profit rate of 4.942 per cent. while the 10-year Sukuk was priced at a profit rate of 5.194 per cent., representing a highly successful pricing for each Series. The issuance was one of the largest in the MENA region in over a year, received demand from international investors in Asia, Europe and Middle East, attracted orders exceeding US$11 billion and was more than five times oversubscribed.

The cross-border team comprised partner and Head of Middle East Capital Markets, Stuart Ure (Dubai), Nader Koudsi (Senior Associate, Dubai) and Benedetta Tola (Associate, Dubai) at Clifford Chance, with support from Head of Banking and Finance Yasser Al-Hussain (Riyadh), Ibrahim Al-Mansour (Associate, Riyadh) and Yara Abushanan (Associate, Riyadh) at AS&H Clifford Chance.

Stuart Ure commented, "We are proud to have supported Saudi Electricity Company once again, on this landmark sukuk issuance. This success of the transaction is a testament to the tremendous work of the SEC team and all the stakeholders in this transaction."

Al Rajhi Capital Company, Bank of China Limited, London Branch, Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC, First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC, HSBC Bank plc, J.P. Morgan Securities plc, KFH Capital Investment Company K.S.C.C., Mashreqbank psc (acting through its Islamic Banking Division), Mizuho International plc, MUFG Securities EMEA plc, SMBC Nikko Capital Markets Limited and Standard Chartered Bank were the Joint Lead Managers on the issuance.

Consistently ranked Band 1 in legal directories, Clifford Chance was awarded 15 awards at the Bonds, Loans & Sukuk Awards 2023 and 8 awards at the IFLR Middle East Awards 2023. Clifford Chance was named Islamic Finance News (IFN) Law Firm of The Year and IFN Banking & Finance Law Firm of The Year at the IFN Deal of the Year Awards 2023, International Law Firm of the Year at the IFLR Middle East Awards 2023, International Law Firm of the Year (Middle East) at the Middle East Legal Awards 2023, Middle East International Law Firm of the Year at the Chambers Middle East Awards 2023 and The Legal Middle East and Banking and Finance Law Firm of the Year at the North Africa Awards 2024.