Goldman Sachs buys into Aramco’s US$10b loan

DUBAI: Goldman Sachs has bought a slice of Saudi Aramco’s US$10 billion (RM4.28 billion) credit facility as it seeks a role in the historic listing of the oil company, said sources.

It is common practice in capital markets to first establish banking relationships through loan transactions which are then followed by other deals.

Goldman purchased a portion of the US$10 billion revolving credit facility Aramco signed with a number of banks in 2015.

Sources said Goldman purchased several million dollars in the secondary market from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. The bank was not part of the original list of 27 banks on the credit facility, which included Citigroup, JPMorgan, HSBC and Bank of China.

Aramco plans to raise US$100 billion through the listing of five per cent of the company in Saudi Arabia and one or more overseas location.

JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and HSBC have been hired as international financial advisers for Aramco’s initial public offering.

Two of the sources said Goldman was expected to join the trio as a global coordinator and bookrunner for the facility when those positions were finalised. Reuters