Saudi Aramco adds four more banks as IPO underwriters

Saudi Aramco says it has added several more foreign banks as bookrunners for its long-planned, $2trn intial public offering with a listing of 5% of the company's worth.
According to Bloomberg, the new banks include Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and UBS Group, which will join Crédit Agricole, Gulf International Bank and Société Génerale as bookrunners for the huge IPO. Citi, HSBC, Credit Suisse Group, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are among the banks already tasked with managing the listing.
Representatives from the banks are due to travel to the Middle East for meetings with Saudi Aramco management in Dubai this week.
The oil giant - the world's largest - is keen to restore confidence in the IPO in the wake of last week's missile attacks on its Abqaiq and Khurais oil processing plants, which cut the kingdom's output by half."
The oil giant - the world's largest - is keen to restore confidence in the IPO in the wake of last week's missile attacks on its Abqaiq and Khurais oil processing plants, which cut the kingdom's output by half in the immediate aftermath.
The attacks led some anlysts to question Aramco's timetable for the IPO launch. The company, however, inisists it will keep to its schedule and has not informed banks of any plans to delay the listing.
Aramco says it is planning to hold analyst presentations later this week. The company is hoping to list on the Tadawul, the domestic stock exchange in Riyadh as soon as November. The initial home offering would sell perhaps $25bn worth of shares, before listing in London or New York next year.
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