Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund has started taking bids for its sterling-denominated dual-tranche note offering, fixed income news service IFR reported on Tuesday.

The indicative price for the debt sale has been placed around gilt + 135 basis points for 5-year notes and gilt + 145 bps for its 15-year notes, the IFR said.

The debt deal, expected to be priced later in the day, is reported to be benchmark-sized, which is typically understood to be at least $500 mln, the document added.

The Public Investment Fund (PIF), which manages more than $700 billion in assets, mandated Barclays, BNP Paribas, HSBC and J.P. Morgan as joint coordinators to arrange investor meetings from June 3, the IFR said.

The sovereign wealth fund plans to sell the senior unsecured sterling-denominated dual-tranche note offering with maturity of 5-years and 15-years under the GACI First Investment Company's Euro Medium Term Note programme.

The PIF is the chosen vehicle of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler, to drive an economic agenda aimed at cutting the country's reliance on oil. Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil exporter.

Last month, Saudi Arabia raised $5 billion in three-part Islamic bonds, or Sukuk, amid strong investor demand for the kingdom's debt.

(Reporting by Mohammad Edrees Editing by Bernadette Baum)