Diamond prices weakened late last year, partly due to the closure of Antwerp Diamond Bank in October squeezing liquidity for manufacturers.
Standard & Poor’s lowered its sovereign credit ratings on Bahrain and Oman, while lowering its outlook on Saudi Arabia.
Credit agency RAM Ratings assigned preliminary ratings of AAA and AA1 to the proposed senior and subordinated sukuk.
Barclays Bank and HSBC will act as coordinators for the loan.
Fahad al-Mubarak gave no indication that the government actually planned concrete action.
The bank announced the plan on Monday after reporting full-year net profit of SAR826 million, up 10.1 per cent.
Damac reported a fourth-quarter net profit of $249.8 million, up 11 per cent from the year-ago period.
KFH’s net profit for the three months to the end of December was KD36.4 million ($123.2 million).
Traders attributed the spot market volatility to the plunge of the Saudi stock market, which sank more than 35 per cent between September and mid-December.
Middle East investors have began to look east as Europe’s economy struggle due to repeated fears over sovereign debt levels and weak growth indicators.
The proposal is subject to approval by the bank’s annual general assembly on February 25.
Saudi Cement, the Kingdom’s largest cement company by market value, reported an 8.9 per cent rise in Q4 net profit.
Brent crude jumped 2.2 per cent to $57.80 per barrel on Friday, posting its largest two-week gain in 17 years.
Figures from Airbus show that 47 per cent of its aircraft deals in the ME in the first 11 months of 2014 were funded by local banks.
A local daily reported that the securities regulator had decided to refer central bank governor Mohammad al-Hashel to prosecutors on suspicion of violating investment rules.
Dana Gas made a net loss of Dhs15 million in the last quarter of 2014.
Jarir posted a 25.5 per cent increase in its fourth-quarter net profit.
The company made a net profit of Dhs89.4 million ($24.3 million) in the last quarter of 2014.
The company made a profit of OMR6.55 million($17.0 million) in the last quarter of 2014.
The company reported annual net profit of QAR6.3 billion for 2014, down 21 per cent from QAR8.01 billion a year earlier.
Dubai-based Levant Capital and Citi Venture Capital International originally bought the stake in Al Raya in 2012 for $100 million.
The deal is a first in the region for TPG, which manages about $65 billion of capital according to its website.
Investor orders grew to over $1 billion, the leads said.
The bank’s retail lending growth is expected to slow to 25 per cent in 2015 from 36 per cent last year.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE gave Egypt more than $12 billion in aid after former President Mohamed Mursi was toppled in 2013.
The bank has not seen a major drop in lending approval rates since the establishment of the Credit Bureau, says Peter England.
Kingdom’s stake decreased from approximately 6.6 per cent ownership to roughly one per cent ownership.
The six-year revolving credit facility was lead arranged by First Gulf Bank and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.
Moody’s on Tuesday withdrew Shuaa’s ratings, citing Moody’s “own business reasons” without elaborating.