Saudi Aramco Hires 25 Banks To Work On Flotation Of Its Shares On A Single Stock Market

Arabian-American Oil Company or Aramco has hired 25 banks to work on its upcoming listing on a single stock market, reports The Guardian.

The standard practice for any large company which goes for listing is to hire between one and three banks for a market debut. But Aramco, being world’s most profitable company, has many international banks like Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and HSBC to be part of the biggest Initial Public Offering (IPO) in history.

The 25 banks will act as book-runners for the deal and take orders for the issue of shares.

When trading will start early next month, energy and financial experts believe the company could raise about $25 billion for the Saudi government.

The only company to have more book-runners than Aramco is Postal Savings Bank of China, which listed in 2016 with 26 book-runners

Lucille Jones, an analyst at Refinitiv, said, “The Saudi Aramco listing, set to be one of the largest of all time, had investment banks competing fiercely for mandates.”

They are lined up to help Aramco list up to 1.5 per cent of its shares on Riyadh’s stock exchange in exchange for a commission of funds raised is expected to be around $90 million.