Saudis Woo Billionaires in Rio as Wealth Fund Taps Latin America - Bloomberg
Under the banner “Invest in Dignity,” the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia let the world know it’s ready to do business in Latin America, hosting a three-day summit on Brazil’s most famous beach.
At the iconic Copacabana Palace hotel, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, gatekeeper to nearly $1 trillion of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign money, traded compliments. Billionaires Marcelo Claure, David Velez and Marcos Bulgheroni, as well as former Trump administration officials like Mike Pompeo, later took the stage, along with the CEOs of Brazilian commodities giants Vale SA and Petrobras. A samba group moved through the crowds.
“Brazil and Saudi Arabia are part of the global south,” Lula told attendees on Wednesday. “We can’t go through another century only depending on the north.”
Organized by the Future Investment Initiative Institute, a nonprofit linked to the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, the conference in Rio de Janeiro is part of the kingdom’s push to raise its profile and diversify its oil-dependent economy by tapping into resource-rich Latin America. For Brazil’s political and business leaders, it was a rare chance to mingle with the entourage around the Public Investment Fund’s Al-Rumayyan and the billions of dollars that are doled out each year.
No major new accords were announced, but those in attendance got a taste of Brazil’s natural beauty and political turbulence.
Saturday 15 June 2024
War, Money, Oil and the Shaping of Aramco’s Giant Share Sale - Bloomberg
War, Money, Oil and the Shaping of Aramco’s Giant Share Sale - Bloomberg
As the boss of the world’s biggest oil company flew around the world in early June to drum up investor interest in one of the biggest share sales in recent years, he could breathe a sigh of relief.
Five years after Aramco’s $29.4 billion listing had been marred by temper tantrums and U-turns that left it almost entirely reliant on local investors, Amin Nasser and a coterie of top Wall Street bankers had finally delivered the international deal Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman always wanted.
A large chunk of this month’s $11.2 billion share sale was allocated to foreign investors, leading one person involved in the process to describe it as the deal the IPO was supposed to be. Its success could create a template for future Aramco sell downs, which now seem likely as the Crown Prince — who’s known as MBS — seeks cash to help fund his multitrillion-dollar Vision 2030 economic transformation project.
“We’re seeing an ‘all of the above’ attempt to raise investment capital for the Vision 2030 gigaprojects,” said Jim Krane, a fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston. “Since the hoped-for FDI flows haven’t fully materialized, the Saudi government has turned to its tried-and-true backstop: Aramco.”
This account of the share sale, which Bloomberg News first reported in January, is based on interviews with dozens of people directly involved in the offering, who asked not to be identified discussing private meetings and conversations. Representatives for Aramco and the Saudi government did not respond to requests for comment.
As the boss of the world’s biggest oil company flew around the world in early June to drum up investor interest in one of the biggest share sales in recent years, he could breathe a sigh of relief.
Five years after Aramco’s $29.4 billion listing had been marred by temper tantrums and U-turns that left it almost entirely reliant on local investors, Amin Nasser and a coterie of top Wall Street bankers had finally delivered the international deal Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman always wanted.
A large chunk of this month’s $11.2 billion share sale was allocated to foreign investors, leading one person involved in the process to describe it as the deal the IPO was supposed to be. Its success could create a template for future Aramco sell downs, which now seem likely as the Crown Prince — who’s known as MBS — seeks cash to help fund his multitrillion-dollar Vision 2030 economic transformation project.
“We’re seeing an ‘all of the above’ attempt to raise investment capital for the Vision 2030 gigaprojects,” said Jim Krane, a fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston. “Since the hoped-for FDI flows haven’t fully materialized, the Saudi government has turned to its tried-and-true backstop: Aramco.”
This account of the share sale, which Bloomberg News first reported in January, is based on interviews with dozens of people directly involved in the offering, who asked not to be identified discussing private meetings and conversations. Representatives for Aramco and the Saudi government did not respond to requests for comment.
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