Saudi Arabia has held talks with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries about a cash and share deal for a stake in the Indian company’s refining and petrochemicals arm, as the world’s largest crude oil exporter seeks to deepen ties with the fastest-growing energy consumer.
Three people familiar with the matter said talks were revived in recent weeks to finalise state energy giant Saudi Aramco’s acquisition of a 20 per cent stake in the conglomerate’s assets, first announced by Ambani in 2019 when it was tipped to be a $15bn deal.
The investment had been delayed because of the pandemic and its fallout on the finances of Saudi Aramco, which generates the bulk of the kingdom’s revenues and is already under pressure to hand out tens of billions of dollars in dividends to the state.
The kingdom was weighing paying for the Reliance deal with Saudi Aramco shares initially and then staggered cash payments over several years, the people said. The proportion of shares versus cash was still up for debate and terms had yet to be finalised, they added.
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