Breakingviews - Some Aramco IPO banks look more equal than others - Reuters

Breakingviews - Some Aramco IPO banks look more equal than others - Reuters:

All Saudi Aramco’s listing advisers are equal, at least in name. The oil giant has hired nine banks to lead its revived initial public offering and given them the grand-sounding title of global coordinator, Reuters reported on Wednesday. That means they all get bragging rights. But they will not all be doing the same thing.

Hiring a boatload of investment banks is not unheard of, and with a market capitalisation of $1 trillion to $2 trillion Aramco will almost certainly become the world’s largest listed company. But that was the case back in 2017, when JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and HSBC were the leading players. Now Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Citigroup have been added to the roster, along with Saudi Arabian lenders National Commercial Bank and Samba Financial.

In practice, however, the three lead banks will have done most of the work already. It will be surprising if JPMorgan, whose Saudi relationships go back decades and which has comfortably topped Dealogic’s list of investment-bank revenue generators so far this year, does not remain the de facto top dog.