Ahead of AGM, buzz over Aramco head on RIL board
Saudi Aramco Chairman and Governor of the Kingdom’s wealth fund — Public Investment Fund (PIF) — Yasir Al-rumayyan may be inducted on the board of Reliance Industries (RIL). This is a precursor to a $15-billion deal, said reports.
An announcement of Alrumayyan’s induction on the RIL board or the board of the newly carved oil-to-chemical (O2C) unit may come as early June 24 at the company’s annual shareholder meeting.
“RIL’S annual general meeting (AGM) has historically been a keenly watched event (previously attended by 3,000 shareholders when held in physical format and last year saw 300,000 concurrent viewers of the virtual AGM across 42 countries and 468 cities), given that it has been one of the top 3 companies by market capitalisation in India, has a large free float, and a large public shareholding (more than 3 million non-institutional shareholders),” brokerage HSBC Global Research said in a report. Expectations are already built up for the AGM.
“Over the past year, new investors have joined RIL’S digital and retail business at a subsidiary level and RIL has formed new partnerships with global players like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Qualcomm, etc. Investors now expect RIL to give direction to these businesses and announce ground-breaking products,” it said, adding reports suggest it will likely announce a new smartphone partnered with Google and its pricing.
“There is also expectation of some update on Saudi Aramco deal and speculation that the chairman of Saudi Aramco may join RIL’S board,” it said.
Both RIL and Saudi Aramco did not reply to emails sent for comments. An email sent to PIF, too, remained unanswered. PIF has already picked up minority stake in Reliance Retail and Jio. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani had in August 2019 announced talks for the sale of 20 per cent stake in the O2C business, which comprises its twin oil refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat and petrochemical assets, to the world’s largest oil exporter. The deal was to conclude by March 2020, but has been delayed for reasons not disclosed by either company. Talks have revived this year and the two are reportedly discussing a cash and share deal — Aramco paying for the stake with its shares initially and then staggered cash payments over several years.