Deals
Saudi Aramco Is Weighing a Global Bond Sale for the First Time
- Bond issue could signal shift from planned IPO for oil giant
- Selling bonds would force greater transparency on Saudi Aramco
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
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Saudi Aramco is weighing tapping the international bond market for the first time to finance the acquisition of petrochemical giant Sabic, a move into global capital markets that could offer an alternative to an initial public offering, according to people familiar with the talks.
If Aramco goes ahead with an international bond -- potentially among the biggest ever done by a corporate issuer -- the sale would force the world’s largest oil producer to disclose its accounts to investors for the first time since nationalization four decades ago as well as many other details about oil reserves and operations.