Bankers invited for Aramco listing roles

Saudi Aramco has invited banks pitching for roles in its stock market listing, including Citi and Goldman Sachs, for meetings in the kingdom in the coming weeks to make their case, three banking sources have said.

The meetings are an indication that preparations for a 2018 initial public offering, which could be the biggest IPO in history, are progressing despite market speculation it could be delayed or even shelved. 

Executives from Citi, Goldman and Deutsche Bank, which are all bidding to be global coordinators for the share sale, are among the teams invited to present their pitches in person, the three sources said. 

The talks will be held at the end of January or beginning of February in the Eastern Province city of Dhahran, where the state oil company is headquartered, they added. 

Two of the sources said the talks would involve members of the banks’ equity capital markets teams, executives who would be directly involved in an IPO, rather than top management. The stock market listing of the national champion is a central part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s reform drive aimed at restructuring the kingdom’s economy and reducing its dependence on oil revenue. 

The government, which aims to float up to 5% of the company this year, says Aramco is worth $2 trillion - but several industry experts have questioned whether a valuation that high is
realistic. 

The oil giant told bankers not to come up with a valuation, saying it had not provided enough financial information to do so, two of the sources said.