RPT-Banks lobby Aramco for incentive fee after slim IPO pickings -sources - Reuters

RPT-Banks lobby Aramco for incentive fee after slim IPO pickings -sources - Reuters:

Global banks who worked on Saudi Aramco’s record initial public offering are pushing for an additional “incentive fee”, three sources familiar with the matter said, as they try to boost relatively low earnings from the deal.

Aramco said on Sunday it had exercised a “greenshoe option” to sell an additional 450 million shares, raising the size of its IPO to $29.4 billion - comfortably the world’s biggest listing to date.

But the energy giant’s earlier decision not to market the deal internationally means most banks involved in selling Aramco’s shares will earn less than $5 million each, according to two of the sources, a low amount for such a large deal.

Now banks are in discussions with Aramco for the payment of the “incentive fee” under a clause in the contract that gives the Saudi government the discretion to pay banks an extra sum if the listing went well.