Israel's Delek Drilling plans to raise $2.25 billion in an international bond offering to help it finance the development of the Leviathan natural gas project off Israel's Mediterranean coast.
The issue, expected to be completed in coming weeks, will be led by JP Morgan and HSBC, Delek said on Monday, adding it will pledge its rights in the Leviathan project in favor of the bondholders.
Delek Drilling, controlled by conglomerate Delek Group, said that after the offering it would buy back up to $50 million of its existing bonds, including those used to finance the smaller Tamar gas project.
Israel’s $3.6 billion Leviathan field - co-owned by Delek, Texas-based Noble Energy, and Ratio Oil - started production in late 2019 and is already supplying gas to Israel, Egypt and Jordan.
Last week Chevron Corp said it would buy Noble for about $5 billion in stock.
A roadshow for the bonds, which will be divided into four series expected to mature in 2023, 2025, 2027, and 2030, will be launched in coming days.
(Reporting by Steven Scheer Editing by Tova Cohen and David Holmes)