Saudi Aramco weighs global bond sale: report

Saudi Aramco is considering issuing international bonds for the first time to finance a stake acquisition in petrochemical giant Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The bond, which likely to be combined with banks loans to raise cash for the acquisition, could offer an alternative to Aramco’s planned initial public offering (IPO), the sources said.

Should the world’s largest oil producer goes ahead with the international bond, it would be forced to disclose its accounts to investors as well as many other details about oil reserves and operations.

Aramco hasn’t yet started talks about the size of any bond, which would depend on how large a stake it buys in Sabic and how much the banks are willing to lend directly.

Saudi Aramco recently said it started preliminary talks to buy the Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) 70 percent stake in Sabic, Argaam previously reported.