Tuesday 2 April 2019

Information flow: Five things we've learned about #Saudi Aramco from its bond prospectus | ZAWYA MENA Edition

Information flow: Five things we've learned about Saudi Aramco from its bond prospectus | ZAWYA MENA Edition:

Ever since the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced plans to float a stake in its crown jewel, the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) in order to fund its Vision 2030 plan to diversify the kingdom’s economy there had been some doubts in the market as to whether the deal would ever proceed – particularly after Reuters reported last year that the team working on the IPO had been stood down.

Sceptics felt that the kingdom was wary of the kind of public disclosures it would have to make if it were to bring the company to market via a public listing. However, the government said that its plans had merely altered, with Saudi Aramco instead buying the 70 percent share in petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) first, before eventually bringing a much bigger exploration, refining and chemicals giant to market.

That $69.5 billion deal concluded last week, and in order to pay for it, Saudi Aramco is issuing bonds into global debt capital markets which give investors a similar insight into the firm’s operations as an IPO would.  With the prospectus for the bonds being published on Monday, what exactly does it tell us about the company?

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