Saudi Arabia to hire Goldman, Citi, HSBC for Aramco share sale: Bloomberg News

Saudi Arabia is set to hire Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and HSBC Holdings Plc for a secondary share sale in Saudi Aramco, a deal that would raise about $20 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The state oil company is also in talks with other banks as it pulls together a roster of advisers, the report said, adding that the offer may come in the next few weeks.

Aramco did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Reports about the new sale come four years after the Kingdom raised about $30 billion in Aramco’s initial public offering, which was described as the world’s largest-ever stock sale.

The deal is expected to bolster the Kingdom’s efforts to diversify its economy away from oil and promote non-oil sectors as part of its Vision 2030 plans.

The Saudi government holds a 90.19 percent stake in Aramco, while the sovereign Public Investment Fund and the fund’s subsidiary Sanabil hold 4 percent each.

Aramco is the world’s biggest oil exporter, with a market value of just over $2 trillion. The latest report comes on the heels of a Saudi government’s decision to maintain the oil giant’s maximum sustainable capacity at 12 million barrels per day instead of 13 million bpd. The company also plans to update its capital spending guidance when revealing its full-year 2023 results in March.

The Kingdom is currently pumping around 9 million bpd, well below capacity after it cut production as part of an agreement with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, last year.

Since late 2022, OPEC+ has cut 5.86 million bpd of oil output, equal to roughly 5.7 percent of daily world demand, according to Reuters calculations.

In its latest monthly report, OPEC forecast that demand for its crude would grow about 1.3 million bpd by the end of 2025, meaning it would only be able to unwind a third of its cuts of close to 4 million bpd.