Riyadh – Mubasher: State-owned Saudi Aramco is currently seeking advisers to mandate a massive loan for its potential acquisition of a stake in the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), banking sources told Reuters.
Banks are forecast to provide financing proposals to Aramco by Monday, one of the sources told the news agency, adding that the request for proposals was originally sent out on Wednesday.
Some media sources stated previously that Aramco may seek a loan of up to $50 billion from international lenders for the acquisition.
On Wednesday, Aramco CEO Amin Nasser indicated that the oil giant was pushing ahead with the acquisition of the Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) stake in SABIC.
In July, Aramco said that it had begun discussions with the state-owned PIF to buy a stake in the SABIC. A week later, it announced hiring US-based banks JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley as financial advisers for its potential acquisition which could make up as much as 70% of chemical producer SABIC. Aramco had also said it may enter the global bond market for the first time ever in order to finance the SABIC deal.
In September, PIF said it had selected Goldman Sachs & Co to advise it on selling its stake in SABIC to Aramco, which later said it was mulling over a raft of financing options for the majority-stake acquisition in SABIC.
