Saudi Aramco has given the leading role in its share listing to nine of the world's largest banks that would lead what will be the biggest initial public offering (IPO) ever, Reuters reported on Wednesday, quoting two sources with knowledge of the matter.
The winners in the world's largest share sale who will act as joint global coordinators are JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Citi, HSBC, and Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank and Samba, the sources told Reuters.
JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and National Commercial Bank had worked on the IPO before the Saudis put it on hold last year, according to the sources.
Earlier this week, reports emerged that JP Morgan had emerged as the frontrunner for the leading advisor role in the Aramco IPO.
The Saudi oil giant is ready to list on international markets alongside its primary listing on the Saudi stock exchange, Aramco's chief executive officer Amin Nasser said on Tuesday, as the Kingdom has noticeably sped up the timeline for the IPO.
The top manager of the Saudi state oil firm reiterated that it's up to the sole shareholder of the company - the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - to decide when the listing will take place.
Last week, Saudi Arabia started to fast-track Aramco's IPO, with Khalid al-Falih losing both his role as chairman of the board for Aramco and as the Kingdom's energy minister. Abdulaziz bin Salman, the King's son and half-brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is the new energy minister and represent a further coalescing of power around the Crown Prince.
Saudi Arabia's new energy minister, Abdulaziz bin Salman, said on Monday in his first public comments after taking over from al-Falih that the Kingdom aims to have the IPO take place "as soon as possible."
Aramco's CEO Nasser said on Tuesday that a domestic market listing would take place "very soon."
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More