The industrial logic behind Saudi Aramco’s ‘chemical attraction’:
News that Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil company and the mainstay of the Kingdom’s economy, was in talks to buy a controlling stake in Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), the diversified chemicals giant, caused some surprise.
Not only was the move, which could cost Aramco about $70 billion if it acquires the whole stake held by the Public Investment Fund, an apparent step outside the traditional energy business; it looks like a further distraction from the initial public offering (IPO) of shares in Aramco, the flagship project of the economic transformation of the Kingdom set in train by the Vision 2030 strategy.
One prestigious commentator talked of Aramco’s “strange chemical attraction” for a deal some said had been dreamt up by the armies of investment bankers hired by Aramco for the history-setting IPO but now underemployed as the deadline for the flotation has slipped.
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