Almarai Co is a Saudi Arabian food conglomerate that is currently operating a joint venture project with PepsiCo Inc. In order to expand to Argentina and the Ukraine, it is now preparing to tap the global debt market for a volume of US$500 million to fund the expansion.

In the next twelve months, the company is planning to sell bonds in order to expand its funding sources for investments in facilities, overseas farming operations and a larger distribution network. According to Chief Financial Officer Paul Louis Gay, the debt may be an Islamic bond or hybrid sukuk.

Almarai had announced last April that it was able to raise 1.3 billion Saudi Riyals or US$347 million from private placements of Islamic bonds with Saudi Arabian investors. The sale was a tanche of a 2.3 billion royal sukuk program that was set up last year. The overall plan was stipulated in a five year program worth 15.7 billion riyal that would fund output increase and product development.

The 2013 first quarter profit rose to 5.4% valued at 255.1 million Saudi riyals, a shade under the estimated 292.9 million Saudi riyal estimate from Bloomberg compiled analysts.