“There is some shifting in terms of what roles the banks might have if IPO talks go ahead.”
JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and HSBC were picked to play a leading role in the world’s biggest-ever IPO when the plan was first announced in 2016. Boutique investment banks Moelis & Co and Evercore were also hired by Aramco as independent advisers.
But plans for a domestic and international listing were later postponed. The Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih, who also chairs Aramco, said on Tuesday the company was ready to start working on the longawaited listing, adding it could happen in 2020-2021.
“The IPO process was never fully suspended,” al-Falih said.
“We have always been clear that the IPO will happen in the 2020-2021 timeframe. We have never stopped talking about the IPO.”
Al-Falih pointed to Aramco’s $69.1-billion acquisition of a 70 per cent stake in petrochemicals firm Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) along with a recent $12-billion bond sale as the main reason for the IPO delay. “Now that all of these issues have been cleared, we are ready to start planning for the IPO,” he said.
Al-Falih confirmed the same timeline that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MbS, provided on June 16 when he said the government remained fully committed to the IPO project, expecting it to take place between 2020 and early 2021.
MbS’ comments triggered a series of approaches by international investment banks who wanted to be in the driving seat, one of the sources said.
The IPO is a centrepiece of the crown prince’s plan to diversify the kingdom’s economy beyond oil.
