Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Development Seeks to Raise $3.5 Billion
- Loan may have 15-year tenor, would be firm’s first borrowing
- Project is backed by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund
A man looks at the red sea from a bridge in Saudi Arabia.
Photographer: Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us/Corbis NewsThis article is for subscribers only.
The firm that’s transforming an archipelago, desert and mountains -- an area about the size of Belgium -- on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast into a global tourism destination is talking to banks to raise $3.5 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The Red Sea Development Co. started discussions with local lenders for a 13 billion-riyal loan in what would be its first borrowing, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. The loan may have a 15-year tenor and is likely to be backed by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, some of the people said.